INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell has embraced her role as a steadying influence this season and the team has benefited.
After a 4-4 start, Mitchell calmly challenged teammates to improve defensively, put a higher priority on attention to detail and maintain their perspective for the long haul of the season.
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It worked, and now the four-time All-Star also has been a key player in the midseason turnaround that has Indiana re-emerging as a WNBA title contender.
“Kelsey’s awesome,” All-Star center Aliyah Boston said after finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds in Sunday’s victory at defending champion Las Vegas. “She shows up every single day and gives us everything she has. She hoops out of her mind. She’s the fastest guard I’ve ever seen and for her to continue to do that and make teams guard her, she deserves the world.”
Mitchell has done it before. Last year, she and Boston may have carried the injury-depleted Fever into the WNBA Finals — if not for Mitchell’s severe cramping in her lower body where her legs and feet went numb for about seven seconds during a Game 5 loss to the Aces in a WNBA semifinal.
This season, Mitchell is on pace for the best season of her nine-year career. She’s averaging 22.6 points while shooting 48.6% from the field and 41.6% from 3-point range — all career bests — and she’ll start next weekend at the All-Star Game in Chicago.
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But even as her stats climb, it’s her impact behind the scenes that has really paid dividends.
Caitlin Clark‘s early season shooting slump was followed by a sideline spat between the three-time All-Star and coach Stephanie White.
That’s when the 30-year-old Mitchell jumped into the fray with some perspective about successfully navigating this environment.
“I think hard times make you or hard times can break you, and hopefully it doesn’t break us,” Mitchell said in early June. “I think losing is important, I think you find out a lot about yourself, about where you need to be, where you’re missing the mark and I’m happy it’s happening now. If there are frustrations, I would rather it be now than later.”
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The team heeded the advice and has responded with a resurgence.
The Fever went 3-1 on a recent four-game Western swing, a trip that included two double-digit wins over the Aces. And though Wednesday’s 88-75 loss at home to Golden State dampened the ascent, Indiana remains tied for fifth with a 14-10 mark heading into home games Friday against Seattle and Saturday against Commissioner’s Cup champion New York.
Boston and Clark, also All-Star starters, have been on a roll.
Boston is averaging a career-best 17.2 points per game, and Clark is at a career-high 19.7 points per game while committing a career-low 4.6 turnovers.
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Mitchell knows the next step is playing at a high level consistently.
“It’s about the discipline and maintaining it,” she said following Indiana’s win at Las Vegas. “If we’re serious about being a top contender and being part of a championship culture, then we’re going to have to do what we do. I think it’s about us, and I think we can keep developing that culture and use these experiences we have as a group to put ourselves in a good position down the stretch.”
Just how good has Mitchell been?
The former Ohio State star scored 27 points in Sunday’s 109-75 rout over the Aces, finishing her 300th game — all with the Fever — by becoming the fifth player in league history with six consecutive games of 25 or more points. That streak ended Wednesday when Mitchell scored 20 points.
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She’s also broken Tamika Catchings’ franchise record for consecutive double-digit scoring games with her 39th in a row in the loss to Golden State.
And when she earned another Eastern Conference player of the week award Wednesday, Mitchell joined Catchings as the only players in franchise history to win the award five or more times.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said she’s one of the toughest players to defend and Mitchell’s teammates agree.
“I’m not too excited about that,” Clark said after learning she would not be Mitchell’s teammate in Chicago. “I guess I’ll probably just let her go by me even if I was trying or not trying. I would have liked it if we were all together, but I knew that probably wasn’t going to happen with three of us. It will be kind of weird seeing Kelsey on the other side, though.”
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The question is whether Indiana can continue to play this well over its final 20 games and into the playoffs.
“The past is the past as far I’m concerned,” Mitchell said. “I just look forward to growing with my group, getting the experience we need to constantly compete.”
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