Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell is expected to make a full recovery after she was helped off the court on Tuesday night after going down with a scary injury in their critical Game 5 matchup with the Las Vegas Aces.
Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game that Mitchell was taken to a local hospital to get fluids, and that she had a lot of lower-body cramping. Mitchell put out a statement on social media on Wednesday, saying that she suffered from rhabdomyolysis, a rare muscle injury where the muscles simply break down, per the Cleveland Clinic.
“I went into a sense of numbness/paralyzing feeling with no movement from my lower extremities for up to five to seven seconds,” she wrote, in part. “Because my muscles stopped producing positive blood to my bloodstream, my body locked up from a physical standpoint and from there fatigue and cramping settled in. It sucked.
“I panicked because I began to think the worse when I felt like I couldn’t move my legs. It was an out of body experience for me and I thank God for covering me at a time like that.”
Mitchell went down suddenly midway through the third quarter of the contest at Michelob Ultra Arena. She was seen reaching down toward her left knee in a bit of discomfort after making a 3-pointer on the other end, but it didn’t seem too significant in the moment. Then suddenly a play later, after she made it around a screen, Mitchell’s leg appeared to lock up.
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She went down to the court hard after a stoppage of play after briefly motioning to an official, who actually helped lower her to the floor, and both teammates and staff immediately covered up the scene with towels. After an extended delay, Mitchell was eventually helped up. A stretcher was rolled out for her, but she was helped off the court without it. She didn’t put much weight on her left leg at all as she did so.
She was ruled out just minutes later. Mitchell had 15 points and was a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc when she went down.
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“This group is all heart,” White said, via ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “It’s really hard to put into words.”
Mitchell said Wednesday that she is “walking and moving at a slow pace,” but she will be “fine very soon.”
“In other words, I played literally ’till my wheels fell off, lmao,” she wrote. “Thank you for the prayers, love, respect and support throughout all of this. If you rode with me through this journey, then I love you!”
Though the Fever rallied back to force overtime even after Mitchell’s injury, the Aces fended off their last push to secure the 107-98 win. A’ja Wilson dropped 35 points and Jackie Young had 32 points, making them the first duo in WNBA history to each have a 30-point night in a playoff game.
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All five of the Fever’s starters finished in double figures. Odyssey Sims led the way with 27 points and six assists, and Aliyah Boston had 11 points and 16 rebounds when she fouled out in the fourth quarter.
The Aces now advance to the WNBA Finals to take on the Phoenix Mercury in a best-of-seven series. If Wilson and the Aces can pull off a win there, they’ll have picked up their third championship in four seasons. That’s a dominant stretch the league hasn’t seen since the Minnesota Lynx won four titles in seven seasons from 2011 to 2017.
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The Mercury beat the Lynx in Game 4 last week amid Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve’s suspension to close out that series. That sent the Mercury into their first WNBA Finals since 2021. The organization last won the Finals in 2014 under head coach Sandy Brondello.
Game 1 of the WNBA Finals is set for Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).