Kelsey Mitchell Calls Out 'Soft' Fever Performance in Loss to Valkyries

The Indiana Fever fell to 6-6 on the 2025 WNBA regular season after their 88-77 loss to the Golden State Valkyries on June 19.

In hindsight, this felt like a trap game for the Fever. Not only did they have to travel across the country just two days after their chaotic game against the Connecticut Sun, but it also marked their third contest in six days, they were without head coach Stephanie White, and the Valkyries boast one of the most passionate and impressive home crowds in the league (aside from the Fever).

However, these are just excuses at the end of the day. And none of them cut it for Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, who finished the game with 16 points in 33 minutes played.

Mitchell didn't mince words when speaking about her team's performance to the media after Thursday's game ended.

"Overall, it’s not about Caitlin [Clark] specifically. I thought it was about our entire group. We were soft," Mitchell said, per an X post from Debbie Antonelli. "They made us pay by being stronger, being tougher. 50/50 balls, deflections, getting in the passing lanes. That's just a piece of being aggressive, and having an ability to look at our best player and be like 'Nah, they gonna be aggressive.'

"And we allowed it. Kind of tucked our tail a little bit, on the aggression side... We have to learn to... be aggressive and stop being so soft. And as a group, we just collectively allowed too much," Mitchell concluded.