Kelsey Mitchell is all business
Rey Moralde
Host · Writer
LOS ANGELES — The Indiana Fever visited Los Angeles to play the Sparks last Wednesday. It's easy to think of Caitlin Clark when one thinks of the Fever but people also associate the Fever with the two other all-stars. Aliyah Boston didn't play on Wednesday's game but the other all-star has been available every single game.
In fact, Kelsey Mitchell has been available for the Fever since 2018. The second pick of that year's draft (right after the great A'ja Wilson), the Ohio State product is putting up 22.7 points per game this season, which is a career-high.
Mitchell was voted as a starter to the midseason exhibition along with Boston and Clark.
"I think that I'm grateful to be doing it with them," Mitchell said before Wednesday's game. "All I can do is keep working on my game and keep doing what I need to do to be a part of certain conversations. And letting God do the rest, really."
Clark's backcourt partner understands the extra attention the Fever gets. But she blocks out the noise.
"I don't think about it like that," Mitchell said. "I'm honest; I hate to be disrespectful but I don't care. I think it's a part of the culture, it's a part of the sport. I like to pick up the good fans that support us. The ones that don't, I guess don't."
Mitchell has always been an explosive scorer. Whatever defense is presented, she'd figure it out.
"I don't think of it like that," Mitchell said when asked about the Sparks defense on Wednesday. "I think that if there as an issue but we've got to fix it. If we don't fix it, it's hard to do our damage. We do it right out of command. Life happens, people making runs happens, and I think that the idea is that we have discipline up to a good standard. I think the discipline has to be there. You know who you are and you know how to be guarded. I think letting it flow from there but I just think that you've got to move on from it. So we can be disciplined in what we need to be and I think that that just starts with making sure we're on, what players we've got to do certain things on and which ones not to, and maintaining a certain sense of ability."
And Mitchell did do her damage. She tried to will the Fever by scoring 29 points against the Sparks but, ultimately, the Fever fell short. But Mitchell has continued to do some more damage. The Fever won their last two games after that, led by Mitchell scoring 29 at Phoenix and then 27 at Las Vegas. She's actually averaged 28 points in her last six games, with the Fever going 4-2 in that span.
All the attention goes to Clark, who has gotten all the fanfare since she entered the league. But the Fever don't win a lot of games without Kelsey Mitchell, who is all business. Some would argue she's the best player on the team but everyone can agree that she's always there and she has consistently done damage to their opponents.
Holland Kaplan contributed to this article.
