Dream relish playoff-like intensity, hold off Feve...
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- Angel Reese led the Dream with 21 points and 11 rebounds, sealing the win with a three-point play and and-1 free throw with 23.1 seconds remaining that pushed the lead to seven.
- Rhyne Howard added 16 points, six assists and five rebounds, co-leading the decisive 13-6 closing run after the Fever erased a 13-point deficit to tie the score.
- Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 points and became the eighth player in WNBA history to reach 700 career three-pointers, while Caitlin Clark matched her with 26 points and seven assists.
- Aliyah Boston finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, making the Fever the only team in the WNBA this season with a trio posting 20-plus points in multiple games — a feat they have accomplished six times.
- Caitlin Clark debuted her Nike signature shoe, the Caitlin 1, on court after announcing the deal Wednesday, becoming the fifth active WNBA player with a signature shoe from a major brand.
- The loss snapped Indiana's four-game winning streak and dropped the Fever to 9-6, while the Dream improved to 10-4 and avenged a double-digit loss to Indiana two weeks earlier.
- The teams meet again Saturday in Atlanta at 1 p.m. on ABC in a rematch coach Karl Smesko called a potential playoff preview.
Why it matters: Both teams sit among the WNBA's top contenders — the Dream at 10-4, the Fever at 9-6 — and the back-to-back matchup Saturday on ABC will give either side a chance to seize the head-to-head tiebreaker before the playoff push. The Fever also surrendered a season high in points after a strong defensive June, a worrying sign for a team built around Mitchell, Clark and Boston's scoring trio.
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