Wilson leads Aces past Fever: how free throws shaped a 94–83 win

A’ja Wilson scored 36 points to keep Las Vegas’s title defense alive with a 94–83 win over Indiana in the deciding first-round playoff game on Thursday, October 1, in Las Vegas. Indiana made more baskets during play, and the game was closer late than that 11-point margin suggests. (AP game report, Her Hoop Stats box score)

Wilson made 11 of her 18 shots, collected 10 rebounds and scored 21 points before halftime. AP reporting records that strong start; Chelsea Gray added 23 points, while Jackie Young supplied 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Together, the three accounted for 77 of Las Vegas’s 94 points. (Field Level Media recap)

The scoring records from Her Hoop Stats and Basketball Reference show where the difference came from:

Each team made 21 two-point baskets. Indiana made nine three-pointers to Las Vegas’s eight, so the Fever led 69–66 in points from shots during play. Las Vegas’s 14-point advantage in free throws more than covered that three-point gap.

The totals are reproducible with simple addition: Indiana’s 42 + 27 + 14 = 83; Las Vegas’s 42 + 24 + 28 = 94. From the Aces’ perspective, the winning margin is 0 − 3 + 14 = 11.

Making more baskets also did not mean shooting more accurately. Indiana needed 78 attempts for its 30 baskets; Las Vegas made 29 from 64 attempts. At the free-throw line, the Aces had both more opportunities and a higher success rate: 28 of 35, compared with Indiana’s 14 of 20. (Basketball Reference box score)

Wilson made 12 free throws, nearly matching Indiana’s entire team. Gray and Young made all six of their attempts apiece. Those one-point shots were a substantial part of the scoring, alongside Wilson’s baskets. (Her Hoop Stats)

This accounting explains the recorded score. It does not establish whether individual foul calls were correct, demonstrate officiating bias or tell us what would have happened under different calls.

Indiana’s challenge was real. Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 23 points, Aliyah Boston had 19 and 10 rebounds, and Caitlin Clark finished with 18. Clark scored 11 in the opening quarter but only seven thereafter; Mitchell made seven of 23 shots. (AP reporting)

Still, the Fever twice brought the fourth-quarter deficit down to two. Sophie Cunningham’s three-pointer made it 70–68 early in the period. After Las Vegas rebuilt a 10-point cushion, Mitchell hit another three with about three minutes remaining to put Indiana within one basket again. (Field Level Media)

Indiana trailed 86–82 at 1:19; eight Las Vegas free throws followed in the final 46.8 seconds. (CBS play-by-play)

The fourth-quarter scoring shows how the Aces finished: 14 of their 24 points came from free throws. Gray scored 11 in the period, combining three made baskets with five successful free throws. (Basketball Reference’s quarter-by-quarter figures)

Las Vegas won without Stephanie Talbot, who missed Game 3 with a leg injury. Jewell Loyd replaced her in the starting lineup and scored 11 points. Afterward, coach Becky Hammon said she did not know Talbot’s status for the games ahead. (AP reporting)

The Aces now face the Golden State Valkyries, who beat Dallas 2–1, with their semifinal series beginning Sunday, October 4. The format changes too: the first round required two wins in a best-of-three series; the best-of-five semifinals require three. (WNBA bracket and format)