Shey

Peddy

Howard did a little bit of everything for the Fever on Tuesday night. She scored moving off the ball while getting on the offensive glass and and play making. Howard completed the Fever’s second most assists with five, second to Odyssey Sims who finished the game with five. She found Lexie Hull for three scores in addition two more assists going to Aliyah Boston and Shey Peddy. Howard scored two of her most important shots in the fourth and overtime periods as her willingness to roll and move in space helped the Fever keep pace with the Aces for most of the game.

Mitchell made a three-pointer with 5:45 remaining in the fourth quarter when her leg collided funny with Aces Forward A’ja Wilson. Once the Fever got to their next offensive possession, Mitchell drove and the whistle blew charging her teammate Aliyah Boston with an offensive foul. After that call Mitchell fell to the ground and was down for a while in a lot of pain and took a while to get up. At one point a stretcher came onto the floor to help her up, but she was able to leave with two staffers helping her get to the locker room. In Mitchell’s place, Shey Peddy has played in extended minutes in addition to Aerial Powers.

Boston was on triple-double watch with not only a 14/12 double-double but with six assists. It was her third career postseason double-double and she is now tied for the most assists by a center in an elimination game in WNBA history. Boston scored 11 of her total 14 points in the second half and there was no more important score than the pass she received from Odyssey Sims with 7.4 seconds in regulation that won the Fever the game. Boston’s playmaking on Thursday night mostly consisted of her finding shooters for wide open threes once Boston drew double teams from the Dream. She assisted on four Fever three-pointers coming from Kelsey Mitchell, Sims and Shey Peddy.

As with Aerial Powers on Saturday, the Fever have signed Peddy to a rest-of-season contract that ensures she will be eligible to play in the postseason. The veteran guard has played nine games for Indiana, averaging 5.2 points and 1.7 assists in 14.1 minutes, providing additional depth off the bench.

After scoring 26 points in her first two games with the Fever, Peddy endured a five-game stretch totaling five points on 2-of-12 shooting. To say she and the Fever needed a performance like the one offered on Sunday would be an understatement. Peddy did not miss against the Mystics, including a 3-of-3 day from beyond the arc. The veteran guard’s current seven-day contract expires on Tuesday, but one would assume she’ll be signed to a rest-of-season deal that ensures Peddy will be eligible for the postseason. That likely would have been the case even if Peddy had not shot the ball as well as she had on Sunday.

Mitchell reached at least 20 points for the 24 time this season. She became the fifth player in WNBA history to score 850 points in a single season and joins Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi and A’ja Wilson. Mitchell moves to second all time when it comes to most points scored in a total season for a guard and is just 77 points behind Loyd with two games left. Mitchell scored her points both on and off the ball. She started scoring off assists from Aliyah Boston and Shey Peddy and then finished the game by creating with the ball in her hands. She reached the line three times and made all of her free throws. Mitchell also facilitated the ball at a high level on Friday night, finding front court players Boston, Natasha Howard and Damiris Dantas. She attracted two defenders to the ball often and was able to find her teammates rolling to the basket.

Peddy has scored in double figures in both games she’s played since joining the Fever on a seven-day contract on August 19. Given the combination of her production and Indiana’s still being severely shorthanded on the perimeter, the veteran guard getting a second contract is unsurprising. Peddy shot 6-of-7 from the field and scored 16 points in Sunday’s loss to the Lynx.

Peddy has made a considerable impact in the two games she’s played for the Fever since signing a 7-day contract on August 19. On Sunday evening she continued shooting the ball from deep at a really high clip, not missing at all from three-point range in addition to driving and scoring with ease in the paint. All of Peddy’s three-pointers were on passes from facilitating center Aliyah Boston and Peddy’s drives were mostly on passes from Lexie Hull. It is quite remarkable that Peddy, a new player to the Fever and their system, has been able to contribute this effectively right away.

Fever head coach Stephanie White anticipated that Sims was going to play on Sunday night as early as the team’s morning shootaround. White wasn’t sure how many minutes at one time Sims might be able to play but said that Sims just “irritated” her groin and quad. “That happens when you’ve not been playing in a while and get thrown out there,” White said about Sims and her injury. “But I anticipate her playing and we’ll watch her and make sure that we go for shorter bursts.” With these shorter bursts in mind, the Fever will look to recently signed guard Shey Peddy to provide Sims with the appropriate relief.

With a depleted Fever roster, Mitchell carried the Fever’s scoring load once against the Lynx. For the second straight game, Mitchell attempted over 20 shots. Throughout the game she reached the rim at will but didn’t always finish and got almost all wide open looks from three off of great screens set by Aliyah Boston. Mitchell shot 71.4% from three on Friday night, her highest clip from three of the season since June 24. In addition to her made five threes on Friday night, she also had five assists. She dished to Lexie Hull and recent addition Shey Peddy for three-pointers and then found Natasha Howard and Aliyah Boston for field goals at the rim.