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Indiana Fever Coach Has Clear Message on Brittney Griner’s Atlanta Dream

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Chris Phelps | Last updated Sep 14, 2025 2:55 PM ET

Head coach Stephanie White and the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever will open the 2025 WNBA playoffs Sunday against Brittney Griner and the No. 3 seed Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the first round. The Fever finished the regular season 24-20, edging out the Golden State Valkyries for the No. 6 seed despite playing much of the year without Caitlin Clark and other key players.

Indiana faced Atlanta four times in the regular season, with the teams splitting the series 2-2. Having already seen the Dream multiple times this year, White knows their size, led by 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner, could create problems.

"You know their size at all positions has been a challenge for us," White said. "We're going to have to combat that with our discipline number one, and with our reads on the offensive end of the floor. Secondly, just the way they space the floor."

White continued by mentioning that the Dream's interior presence, which includes Griner and Brionna Jones, can be "dominant."

"I mean, they do a really good job of what [coach Karl Smesko's] teams have always done in shooting the three," White added. "But also doing it in a different way. And utilizing the post touches in their dominant interior players to score or to find open shooters."

While Griner is a proven star in the WNBA, Jones has taken over as the Dream's starting center, averaging 12.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

"Again, it's gotta start with the defensive end of the floor," White continued. "And then we got to be smart and make the right reads and let the ball find the right shot on offense."

VIDEO: Stephanie White, Kelsey Mitchell discuss matching up with the Atlanta Dream — a team they faced 4x in the first 20 games

...but not since July 11 pic.twitter.com/8pTvGWt2ej
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) September 14, 2025

Following Game 1, the Fever will head back to Indianapolis for Game 2 against the Dream on Tuesday. If necessary, Game 3 will take place on Thursday back in Atlanta.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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