Becky Hammon said the Aces were a step behind defensively after Indiana scored 58 points in the paint and forced a decisive Game 3.
The Indiana Fever made 22 of their 33 shots at the rim Tuesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and beat the Las Vegas Aces 99-89 to even their best-of-three WNBA first-round series at 1-1.
Indiana outscored Las Vegas 58-26 in the paint and shot 37-of-71 from the field. In Game 1 on Sunday, the Fever went 30-of-67 and scored 36 points in the paint in a 102-85 loss in Las Vegas.
Aces coach Becky Hammon said Las Vegas was not good defensively in any area Tuesday, from post defense to guard play.
"I thought our pickup points were — I would say overall, I'm not even going to just say guards — but were just poor as a group defensively," Hammon said. "I thought [we were] late, a step behind all night. I thought they were in the paint all night too much. So there's multiple things that we can fix on that end, but it starts with the point of attack."
"Where I thought they got very stifling was our point of attack," Hammon continued. "It's a lot of grabbing, hand-checking. I understand it's the playoffs, but it shouldn't turn into the NFL either. And I think the refs have a — I wouldn't want to be one. I'm just saying that."
Indiana was called for 24 personal fouls. Las Vegas was called for 19.
At the free-throw line, the Aces went 30-of-34 and the Fever went 17-of-24. Jackie Young made all 13 of her attempts and led Las Vegas with 31 points on 7-of-19 shooting. A'ja Wilson went 12-of-13 at the line and finished with 22 points and nine rebounds on 5-of-11 shooting.
Clark, Mitchell, and Boston Combine for 75
Las Vegas led 26-18 after the first quarter. Indiana won the second quarter 30-17 and the third 24-17, and its lead reached 15.
Hammon could not recall a great one-on-one defensive play by the Aces on Tuesday, two days after she saw plenty of them in Las Vegas.
"Even in the first quarter, I know we held them in the teens in the first quarter, but I thought some of the looks were too easy," Hammon explained. "I thought Caitlin got a couple of rhythm looks. We left our feet a couple of times. She got us in the air. But then she got down in the paint and continued to kind of slice and dice us. And you have to stay solid."
"You have to play great one-on-one defense, where the other day I thought we had a lot of great one-on-one moments," Hammon added. "I can't recall where I'm thinking, oh, that was a really great one-on-one defensive play. And you have to be good. This is the number one offense in the league for a reason. They're a well-oiled machine. They have a lot of weapons. And you have to be disruptive from the point of attack. And we just weren't very disruptive tonight."
Caitlin Clark finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and 15 assists on 9-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range. She fouled out with 2:45 left. In Game 1, Clark had 15 points and 10 assists on 6-of-17 shooting.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Aliyah Boston had 22 on 10-of-15 shooting, and 20 of her points came in the paint.
Wilson said Indiana played with a sense of urgency that had the Aces on their heels, the same way Las Vegas had the Fever on theirs in Game 1.
"Honestly, from the jump," Wilson said. "For us, because we scouted them, we see them. You could just tell that the sense of urgency was a little bit different. So it had us kind of overhelping or a step behind, and we can't have that against a great offensive team like Indiana."
Chelsea Gray had 10 points and seven assists on 4-of-11 shooting. Off the bench, Jewell Loyd had eight points, six rebounds, and three steals, and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus added nine points and two blocks. Stephanie Talbot scored nine and was called for five fouls.
Las Vegas shot 9-of-28 from 3-point range. Indiana went 8-of-21.
Indiana had 22 assists, and Clark had 15 of them. The Fever also scored 11 fast-break points and six second-chance points, while the Aces had eight and four. Each team committed 12 turnovers. The Fever scored 16 points off them, and the Aces scored 11.
Game 3 Set for Thursday in Las Vegas
Game 3 is Thursday at 9 p.m. ET at Michelob Ultra Arena, with USA Network carrying the broadcast.
