Fever stay alive in playoffs with 77-60 Game 2 rout over Dream

Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 points while Aliyah Boston added 15 points to lead the Indiana Fever past third-seeded Atlanta Dream 77-60 on Tuesday night to extend their best-of-three series.

WNBA: SEP 16 First Round Playoffs Atlanta Dream at Indiana Fever — Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty

INDIANAPOLIS — Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 points and made four 3-pointers while Aliyah Boston added 15 points to lead the Indiana Fever past third-seeded Atlanta Dream 77-60 on Tuesday night to extend their best-of-three series.

Game 3 will be Thursday in Atlanta, which hasn’t won a playoff series since 2016. Indiana’s last series win came in 2015.

Natasha Howard added 12 points and five rebounds. Mitchell also had four assists and Boston finished with five rebounds and three assists.

Te-Hina Paopao scored 11 points off the bench to lead the Dream, and Rhyne Howard added 10. The Dream fell 25 points short of their regular-season per game average. Allisha Gray added nine points and seven rebounds despite playing through foul trouble and clashing briefly with two fans in the front row midway through the fourth quarter. Both fans were escorted out of the arena by security.

The Fever hosted their first playoff game since 2016 and fed off the energy of another sellout crowd to earn their first postseason win since Oct. 11, 2015, when they beat the Minnesota Lynx 75-69.

It was a stark turnaround from Game 1.

As both teams battled serious foul trouble, Atlanta couldn’t get the stops it needed — and the Fever took full advantage with its first wire-to-wire playoff win since 2002.