Aug 1, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White yells to her team during the first half against the Dallas Wings at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Stephanie White Explains What Led to Indiana Fever Playoff Win vs Dream

Originally posted on Indiana Fever on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Sep 16, 2025 10:40 PM ET

During an upcoming episode of her Post Moves podcast with Indiana Fever star center Aliyah Boston (a clip of which was posted on X as a teaser), WNBA legend Candace Parker was tasked with describing the Fever's season with one word.

"Despite," Parker said.

What she meant by this is that despite all the injuries, distractions, and other adversity the Fever have faced this season, this team has still managed to produce a winning record and make it to the 2025 WNBA playoffs.

And Indiana proved why that one-word description was fitting once again on September 16, as they produced a dominant performance against the Atlanta Dream with their backs against the wall, earning a 77-60 victory that sends them back to Atlanta for a winner-take-all Game 3 of their first-round playoffs series on September 18.

Stephanie White Speaks On Fever's Success Against Dream

The Fever received great performances from several players to secure this victory, which marks the franchise's first postseason win since the 2025 season.

Head coach Stephanie White sat with two of those players (Aliyah Boston, who had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, and Kelsey Mitchell, who scored a game-high 19 points) during her postgame press conference and assessed what her team did right during Tuesday's game.

"They were getting hustle plays, getting down on the floor after loose balls. It was finishing defensive plays, making sure that we boxed out and then went and got the ball. It's setting screens, using screens, to give us opportunities on the offensive end. Communicating on our point of screen defense, on the defensive end," White said when asked what "little things" her team did well to win, per a YouTube video from the WNBA's account.

"We took care of those things," she added. "You're gonna have your moments in game, but when you continue to have more moments where you are executing, and have more moments where you're playing with multiple levels of effort, good things usually happen. And our group was able to do that."

Indiana will need to do a lot of these little things right once again on Thursday, as the Dream are surely going to come out firing on their home court.

But the Fever have proven that they're not willing to go down without a fight, and will be bringing a ton of energy into this winner-take-all game that will decide whether their 2025 WNBA postseason campaign will continue.

This article first appeared on Indiana Fever on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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