In a game that was defined more by character and heart than execution, the Fever beat the Shock, 89-82, in overtime to force a Game Three of the series on Tuesday evening in Detroit.
After a lackluster effort in Game One, the Fever came out energized. Douglas made her only two baskets of the game in the first 3:17 to give her team a five-point lead. For a long time, it looked like Indiana would hold that lead for the entire game. In the first game, Indiana started the game trying, without much success, to work the ball inside. In this game, Coach Lin Dunn changed the strategy to go away from the strong Shock interior defense. Instead, the Fever tried to open up the middle by hitting from the outside. They made four of seven three-point attempts in the first quarter to take a 24-19 lead after the first 10 minutes. The Fever maintained that lead for the second quarter before extending it in the third.
Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer also had to make adjustments. In the first game, Katie Smith had not been an offensive factor, and Laimbeer made sure to make her a bigger part of the team's offense this time. He had to. Kara Braxton has been inconsistent all season and this was definitely another down game for her. After a weak defensive effort in Game One, Indiana matched Detroit's customary defensive intensity. As a result, both teams had to fight for every basket. Laimbeer's two top scorers, Smith and Deanna Nolan, combined to hit only 10 of their 33 shots.
Mainly Detroit did what they do best. They were physical, intense and focused. In this game, as opposed to the first one, the Fever matched them push for push. Dunn primarily stayed with her starters throughout the game, while Laimbeer played seven. Of those 12 players, one fouled out and five finished the game with five fouls apiece. More importantly for Detroit, Plenette Pierson, who finished tied for the Shock scoring lead with 16 points, injured her shoulder in one skirmish with Ebony Hoffman from which she did not return. Double technicals were assessed in the aftermath, but Detroit plainly got the worse of the consequences: Pierson’s status for Tuesday's game is unknown, but questionable, at this point.
The Fever held a 55-46 lead at the end of the third quarter, but Detroit is a champion and was not going to go away easily. Two Pierson free throws capped a 10-2 Shock run to open the fourth quarter and close the Fever lead to 57-55 with 7:11 to play. The two teams traded body blows for six minutes with the Fever staying slightly ahead until two Nolan free throws gave Detroit their first lead of the game at 69-68 with 1:09 to play. Ebony Hoffman, who appears to be traversing the ground between potential and actual star status in this series, answered with a three to regain the Fever’s lead. Indiana made four of six free throws and Detroit answered with a basket and a free throw to reduce the Indiana lead to three points with just nine seconds left in regulation. Laimbeer called timeout and decided to put the ball in Nolan's hand. It proved to be a wise choice. Despite her otherwise off shooting night (though Nolan finished with 16 points, she was just 5/19, or 26.3 % from the field, and until that critical shot, zero for seven from long distance), Nolan nailed a three with the clock winding down to send the game into overtime.
If there were any questions remaining about the character of the Fever, they were answered in that overtime. While the pundits were again ready to hand the momentum—and the series—to the Shock as they headed into the extra minutes, it was the Fever who came out re-energized. Rather than being down at their failure to put the nail in the coffin of a game they had may have thought they had already won, the team went to work, quickly quieting the frenzied Detroit home crowd. Both teams bore down on defense, and a minute-and-a-half burned off the clock before the drought was broken, as Taj McWilliams-Franklin gave the Shock a two-point lead with a driving lay-up. Tamika Catchings answered with four straight points, two of which came at the charity stripe. Hoffman and Tully Bevilaqua sandwiched a pair of threes around a Braxton lay-up to give the Fever a six-point lead with 53 seconds to play. Nolan had one more trey in her, but with Detroit forced to foul, Douglas came through at the line, hitting four consecutive free throws for the Fever, to take the game 89-82.
This was not a pretty game. It will never show up in a how-to video. But it was a game that showed what playoff basketball should be. It was physical, no-holds-barred, intense basketball. Both teams showed more than enough heart and character to win a championship. If both teams play with this effort on Tuesday, the game will be fun to watch. The one that does the best job of adding some execution will move on to the East finals.