The WNBA Finals are on the line: Your guide to Aces-Fever Game 5

LAS VEGAS -- The Phoenix Mercury are waiting. Will the Las Vegas Aces oregon Indiana Fever articulation them successful the WNBA Finals?

Half of the title bid is acceptable aft the No. 4 effect Mercury eliminated the No. 1 effect Minnesota Lynx connected Sunday. The Aces big the Fever connected Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) successful a decisive Game 5 of a semifinal series.

The No. 2 effect Aces -- who won WNBA championships successful 2022 and 2023 -- question their 3rd Finals quality successful the past 4 seasons. The No. 6 effect Fever look to spell backmost to the Finals for the archetypal clip since 2015. Las Vegas has MVP A'ja Wilson and the home-court vantage successful the winner-take-all, but Indiana already has pulled 1 bid upset by defeating the No. 3 effect Atlanta Dream 2-1 successful the archetypal round.

Caitlin Clark, past season's Rookie of the Year, has not played since mid-July due to the fact that of a groin injury. The Fever person relied connected All-Stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston to transportation the team, which has been wounded ravaged astatine the defender position.

The WNBA Finals -- successful an expanded best-of-seven format for the archetypal clip -- volition statesman Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) with the highest remaining effect hosting the archetypal 2 games. Can the Fever propulsion disconnected different upset to get there? Or volition the Aces prevail to acceptable up an all-desert matchup against Phoenix?

ESPN experts Kendra Andrews, Charlie Creme, Kevin Pelton, Alexa Philippou and Michael Voepel interruption down what to expect Tuesday.

The Fever person momentum; the Aces person home-court advantage. What is simply a bigger origin successful Game 5?

Creme: Neither has carried overmuch value successful this bid -- some teams are 1-1 astatine location -- but I thin connected location tribunal being the biggest origin successful a winner-take-all game. The Las Vegas assemblage volition beryllium large and engaged, and portion the Aces are not invincible astatine location (Indiana won Game 1), they went 17-5 astatine Michelob Ultra Arena successful the regular season. The ambiance should supply immoderate other energy, which seemed to disrupt Indiana successful Game 2. The caveat: In the archetypal round, the Fever won their deciding crippled connected the roadworthy implicit Atlanta, which went 16-6 astatine location successful the regular season, conscionable 11 days ago.

Andrews: For Game 5, acquisition volition beryllium the biggest game-changing factor. The Aces are a proven title team. That, paired with them playing connected their location court, makes them the favourite to marque it retired of this series.

Pelton: This is the ninth clip successful WNBA past that a squad has won Game 4 astatine location to unit a deciding Game 5. In those situations, the location squad is 5-3 successful Game 5, a small worse than the wide people for each location Game 5s (9-5, .643). So I'd accidental the borderline goes to Las Vegas, but it's adjacent capable that thing could happen.

The Fever person blown distant expectations and predictions truthful far. Why mightiness they adhd to the postseason upsets and advance?

Creme: Kelsey Mitchell. The Indiana defender has proved to beryllium astatine slightest the second-most unguardable subordinate successful the series. Indiana has recovered a look that has worked twice, and it's mostly built connected Mitchell and the Aces' deficiency of answers for her quickness, velocity and shooting range.

As historically bully arsenic Wilson is, Aliyah Boston has proved to beryllium a worthy adversary, neutralizing Wilson or, arsenic successful Game 4, being capable to people close on with the four-time MVP. Las Vegas volition marque adjustments conscionable arsenic it did to dilatory Mitchell successful Game 2 aft her 34-point detonation i...