A'ja Wilson Reveals Aces Mindset Facing Indiana Fever in WNBA Playoffs
September 18 was the most thrilling day of the 2025 WNBA season so far.
Expectations were high heading into Thursday, given that there were two winner-take-all Game Three's in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. And both games delivered, starting with the No.6-seeded Indiana Fever producing an upset victory over the No. 3-seeded Atlanta Dream on Atlanta's home court.
While the Dream has a lead for essentially the entire second half, Indiana stormed back on a 7-0 run at the end of the game, which was capped off by an Aliyah Boston layup with just a few seconds remaining. Then the victory was sealed when Lexie Hull got a steal on the Dream's final possession, thus allowing the Fever to advance to the WNBA Semifinals.
And they'll be facing the Las Vegas Aces, which is the result of their comeback 74-73 victory over the Seattle Storm on Thursday night. The Aces were losing by one point when A'ja Wilson (who finished the win with 38 points in 37 minutes played) took a shot with around 15 seconds remaining that missed, but Jackie Young secured the putback layup to give Las Vegas the lead.
The Storm then couldn't secure a basket in their final possession, thus cementing the Aces' victory and their WNBA Semifinals matchup against Indiana.
A'ja Wilson Informed About Indiana Fever Matchup After Aces Playoff Series Win
A'ja Wilson spoke with the ESPN broadcast just a few moments after the Aces got the win on Thursday night. And at one point, she was asked what the team's mindset is as they get ready to take on the Fever.
Wilson clearly didn't know that Indiana had beaten Atlanta, as she was playing in her game when that contest ended. This showed in her initial reaction, as she said, "Oh, they — oh, I didn't even see the game," per an X post from @ShowCaseShabazz.
"Same mindset. It's really never about the other team; it's always going to be about us. We gotta play Aces basketball, and we'll see what the game gives us," Wilson then continued.
A'ja Wilson post game interview
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) September 19, 2025
"Whats going through your mind right now ?"
"I cant say that on national television cause ill get in trouble" 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/noDIx90RqX
This was a pretty predictable (albeit valid) response from Wilson. There's no doubt that Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon will be putting together a great game plan to face the Fever over the next couple of days, in advance of their first semifinals showdown on September 21.
Thursday night served as a reminder of just how great WNBA playoff basketball can be.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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