Indiana Fever loss affords Caitlin Clark an opportunity to develop as a pacesetter

INDIANAPOLIS — The sport was occurring, however Caitlin Clark selected to not be part of it.

The Indiana Fever celebrity wasn’t watching from the sideline Friday in opposition to the Minnesota Lynx; she wasn’t caught in foul bother or nursing an harm. She was in the course of the motion, mendacity on the courtroom, and had merely given up. It was as if Clark was in a online game and the sport participant’s controller died. However this wasn’t digital. This was the true factor.

This was a matchup — and a possible first-round playoff preview — between a pair of MVP candidates and their groups. But Clark’s composure had evaporated. After Lynx celebrity Napheesa Collier blocked Clark’s shot and despatched her to the ground, Clark didn’t get again up. She didn’t even strive. As an alternative, she stared up on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse rafters for a few seconds whereas the Lynx performed five-on-four on the opposite finish, leading to a midrange jumper by Courtney Williams that prolonged Minnesota’s result in 10 factors.

Clark thought she’d been fouled. A foul wasn’t referred to as. And the Fever’s disastrous third quarter continued because the Lynx held on for a 99-88 victory. That rage-filled sequence from Clark, one wherein she vehemently complained to the refs and needed to be subbed out, didn’t determine the result of the sport. But it surely actually wasn’t useful.

“I feel I may have achieved slightly bit higher job controlling my feelings,” stated Clark, who completed with 25 factors, 8 assists and eight rebounds.

Caitlin Clark congratulating the ref for getting a name proper.

She’s fed up 😭pic.twitter.com/91BViQWD4E

— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) September 7, 2024

Fever coach Christie Sides, although appreciative of Clark’s fiery nature, was extra direct.

“It jogs my memory of Diana Taurasi,” Sides stated. “So when she’s upset or mad, that’s what we’ve been engaged on, attempting to determine the best way to get previous these moments. I used to be apprehensive she was going to choose up a (technical foul) in that third quarter, and thank goodness she didn’t. However that’s development, and he or she’s gotta be taught that in these moments, I want my level guard to have a cool head.”

Clark wasn’t the one one.

Fever ahead Aliyah Boston was assessed a technical foul early within the third quarter after she argued with an official over what she believed was a missed foul name. After all, that didn’t change the ref’s thoughts, and Sides acknowledged that the Fever grew to become too consumed by the officiating. The Lynx had been fast to pounce on the Fever’s disarray, flipping a 5-point deficit at the start of the body right into a 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

What may the Fever be taught from their lack of composure? Kelsey Mitchell didn’t mince phrases.

“I feel from a management standpoint, we huddle ourselves collectively as a gaggle to say, ‘Shut up and work. Depart the refs out of it,’ clearly,” stated Mitchell, the Fever’s longest-tenured participant. “Get to the subsequent play. Get to the subsequent motion. Get to the subsequent set.”

And, in principle, get to the subsequent stage.

Three nights in the past, the Fever clinched a playoff berth for the primary time since 2016, and from Sides’ perspective, Friday felt like a playoff ambiance. The group was loud, and the play was bodily. Nothing got here straightforward, and within the fourth quarter, the Fever responded like a workforce that lastly understood that.

Mitchell scored 8 of her 23 factors within the last body. Boston chipped in with 6 of her 20 factors and recorded a block. Nevertheless, it was Clark who emerged as the principle catalyst within the final 10 minutes.

After she regained her equanimity, she modified the sport. Clark scored or assisted on 14 factors within the fourth quarter, serving to the Fever pull inside a degree, however that was so far as Indiana would climb. With the Fever trailing 78-77, Clark blocked Alanna Smith’s jumper and secured the free ball on the following quick break, however she threw an ill-advised cross towards Temi Fagbenle that was simply intercepted by Natisha Hiedeman.

“Actually, I believed we performed actually good within the fourth,” Clark stated. “My turnover in transition is what I felt like actually variety ended the momentum for us.”

Caitlin Clark makes it a 3-point sport in INDY 🍿

The world ERUPTS!

Lynx-Fever on ION 📺 pic.twitter.com/rConwYDwAA

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 7, 2024

Williams responded on the opposite finish with a 3-pointer to push the Lynx’s lead again to 4 factors en path to handing the Fever their second defeat in 9 post-Olympics video games. Each of Indiana’s losses got here by the hands of Minnesota and Collier, who was good but once more. The four-time All-Star completed with a game-high 26 factors, 10 rebounds and a couple of blocks.

Clark referred to as the Lynx “the toughest workforce within the league to protect” due to how nicely they transfer the ball, noting that it wasn’t simply Collier who made massive performs. Bridget Carleton nailed three 3-pointers within the fourth quarter to extinguish a possible Fever comeback.

Mitchell stated the Fever can be taught from Minnesota’s play and the level-headedness it displayed at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which doubled as a stress cooker when Indiana made its late surge. The Lynx didn’t blink, and it’s an enormous purpose they’re now slated because the No. 2 seed within the WNBA playoff standings.

“(Minnesota) is the usual,” Mitchell stated. “And if you wish to compete at that subsequent stage and be part of that playoff run — not simply getting there, not simply being part of it, however making a run and making an impression — we’re gonna have to make use of this as leverage and know that they’re the perfect. And with the intention to beat the perfect, you gotta compete each night time.”

And on each play.

Clark was reminded of that lesson Friday when, for a short second, she did not compete to the fullest extent.

“Yeah, I feel there’s a line and typically, your ardour, your emotion can get to you,” Clark stated. “However that’s by no means one thing I’d ever change.”

And as Sides stated, the Fever aren’t asking her to vary. They’re simply asking her to develop.

(Picture: Emilee Chinn / Getty Photos)