INDIANAPOLIS — After eight long years, the Indiana Fever are back in the WNBA playoffs. It has been a historic season for the young team, featuring last year's Rookie of the Year, Aliyah Boston, and the woman who is almost certain to win it this year, Caitlin Clark.
The team has brought historic attention to the WNBA, helped the Fever to their first winning season since 2019 and their first playoff birth since 2016. Ticket sales are up 264%. Between April and July their social media videos were watched more than any other WNBA team, and any NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB team.
But the Fever may not even get to play a home game during this year's playoffs.
You probably already knew the Fever were a big deal. But even if you're a longtime Fever fan, you may not know how the WNBA playoffs work.
How the WNBA playoffs work
The top eight teams make the WNBA playoffs. Like the NBA, they are seeded based on their regular season records. We'll learn the teams and final seeds after the last games on Sept. 19, but the Fever are locked in as the 6th seed. The first round of the playoffs will be on Sept. 22.
Since 2022, the WNBA has used different series length for different rounds of the playoffs. The first round is a best-of-three series. The Semifinals and Finals are best-of five. None are best-of-seven like the NBA.
The higher seeded team in the WNBA gets home court advantage, and it's an even bigger advantage than in the NBA: the first two games are played on the higher seed's home court. So in the first round, the lower seed has to steal a game away to even get a chance to play at home.
For the longer semifinal and finals games, the higher seed still starts with two home games. The third game is on the lower seed's homecourt, and so is the fourth, if it's needed. If there's a fifth game, it'll be back on the higher seed's home court.
What does that mean for the Fever?
The Fever will face the Connecticut Sun in the first round of the playoffs.
Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22 at 3 p.m., with Game 2 slated for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25 in Connecticut. If the series is tied after those games, a deciding Game 3 will be held Friday, Sept. 27 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Starting at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, you can buy Fever playoff tickets (while they last).
