Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) is defended by Phoenix Mercury guards Sophie Cunningham (9) and Sug Sutton (1) during the second half of a WNBA basketball game last Sunday in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
INDIANAPOLIS — This was a graduate-school win, a grown-up win with all the elements for the Fever, one of those signature victories that announce, “You aren’t going to push us around anymore.”
For the moment, at least, with half a season remaining, the Indiana Fever registered its most important win of 2024, Saturday, by shoving back at the New York Liberty.
Until it became reality in the final minute, with the Fever prevailing, 83-78, with the 17,274 fans who sold out Gainbridge Fieldhouse (again), on their feet, roaring as loudly as jet planes taking off, the WNBA-leading Liberty owned the Fever.
Freedman
We’re talking steal-your-lunch bullying, mosquito-swatting domination. Three previous times this season, Indiana met New York and got squashed by a combined 83 points, twice allowing more than 100 points.
The Liberty showed up with a record of 17-3 and no reason to believe it would not dish out more punishment to the 8-13 Fever. But no, two hours later, after starting fast, weathering a deficit, and rallying in the fourth quarter, the Fever were the queens of the court.
The fans, who just keep on coming, filled Gainbridge for the sixth time, (as well as on-the-road venues 13 times) were truly a sixth-man home-advantage chorus this time.
And if there are large numbers of elementary school and junior high kiddies who haven’t had enough time on earth to be educated about the nuances of the sport, they know what they like, and they like what they see when guard Caitlin Clark lives up to her billing.
In its own way, although she was not perfect from the floor, Clark being perfect enough in the box score, experienced a coronation of sorts. The 6-foot rookie from Iowa scored a team-high 19 points, collected 12 rebounds and totaled 13 assists. That was the first triple-double in the 25-year history of the Fever and the first recorded by a rookie in league history.
While Clark and her Fever teammates have repeatedly praised the energy and enthusiasm of the home crowd, for once, the crowd was ahead of the players. When the 10th rebound went up on the overhead scoreboard for the No. 1 draft pick in this year’s draft, fans erupted.
Clark was perplexed.
“I was confused that the crowd was going so crazy about a rebound,” she said. Probably the rebounding is the least likely double-digit stat Clark accumulates, but it’s not a shock. “I take pride in being able to do a lot of things.”
The crowd was going crazy in general, rocking the building with each positive thrust by the Fever. The Liberty taking liberties with the Fever was only a matter of weeks old, so it was fresh in minds.
Indiana went ahead 10-1 and 24-12 early. But it was uh-oh time when New York moved ahead 66-55 in the fourth quarter. Even Clark mentioned how in past games the Fever “had crumbled” when other teams made big runs, shifting the situation with an avalanche of points.
Not this time. The Fever did not fall off a cliff. Instead, there was a rally. Clark’s ball movement was critical. Center Aliyah Boston (18 points) made the shot giving Indiana a 77-75 lead. Guard Kelsey Mitchell (14 points) capitalized late.
Yet New York, led by stars Brenna Stewart (14 points) and Sabrina Ionescu (22) kept the suspense alive into the last 15 seconds.
“It feels great,” Boston said afterwards. “It’s great being able to close out these games.”
Saddled with a brutal early schedule, playing 11 games in 20 days, and several against the best teams in the W, the Fever began the season 2-9. Since then, the young team has gone 7-4 and has joined the playoff mix.
Under siege for just about every reason imaginable, true or false, reasonable or not, coach Christie Sides kept telling listeners her youthful squad needed practice time and rest. Indeed, since those activities became part of the regular schedule, the Fever has flipped the season.
“I’m just so proud of our players,” Sides said after surviving this challenge. “They’re been working towards it. They’re growing every day. It’s the growth, man. They just won’t give in.”
Almost lost in the good feelings was forward NaLyssa Smith finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds – while playing with four fouls for so long it seemed she had been carrying them since Independence Day.
Clark is never going to be overshadowed. Her every move is dissected, from her three-pointers to her bad passes. The biggest surprises to date is her not being asked how to solve the war in the Ukraine and who she is backing for president in the U.S.
Still, whenever the conversation goes around the block, Clark says, “I just want to win.”
Sides came close to offering sworn testimony backing that statement – only the Bible was missing. Sides basically said Clark lives for the team’s practice-ending half-court-shot dares between the players, calling her “the most competitive” human being she has ever met.
Sounds like the kind of athlete a team needs on its side.
