Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark dealt with pressure Wednesday night in the only way Caitlin Clark knows how: posting her second triple-double of the season right as time ran out in the 93-86 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. The pressure was, the Fever had clinched the playoffs overnight with opponent losses and had all day to sit on it before tip-off.
Indiana trailed at halftime. The last-place Sparks, which aren’t out of the playoff hunt yet but are nearing elimination by the day, hang tough with the Fever all night. Indiana’s usual fluid offense looked clunky in the first half and too many turnovers killed scoring runs. It wasn’t until Clark’s 10 points in the third quarter and Aliyah Boston’s eight in the fourth — helped cushion.
Clark played all 40 minutes for the fourth time this season.
When asked if she ever asks to be taken out, she and Boston simultaneously said no.
“I like sprinting, I already told you guys,”Caitlin Clark bantered afterward. “Finding a balance of when to conserve my energy within the game and playing with pace at the same time, there’s times you can pick and choose… tonight, I felt really good and could go the whole stretch…the (coaches) don’t really ask me, it’s not really my choice… I could probably play another 40.”
To be fair, Caitlin Clark did say she briefly took herself out of the first game back from the Olympic break.
Clark caught her 10th rebound of the night over her shoulder wide-receiver-style with only 10 seconds remaining. She was the closest to the ball, but for good measure, even Boston put her hands up and backed off. Boston already grabbed 14 boards. Clark grinned as she dribbled to the opposing 3-point arc. Teammates soon congregated as the buzzer sounded to congratulate Clark.
They had more to smile about. It was the team’s fifth consecutive win to move to 7-1 post-break.
Caitlin Clark, Fever once more have many winning contributions to hold streak
Wednesday night is the perfect description of any stereotypical trap game. The Fever clinched their first playoff berth in seven seasons and went 6-1 in the span of four road games to make that happen — without needing this six-game homestand. Head coach Christie Sides did admit that the Tuesday night clinch partially was the culprit for playing choppy in the opening quarters.
In spite of that, Indiana stuck it out.
Starter NaLyssa Smith, not renowned for the defensive side of the ball, set the tone to begin with blocks and deflections. Clark, Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell may have been the All-Stars to get the Fever to the finish line, but it was Smith and Lexie Hull who helped cross it. Leading by six points with about two minutes to go, Smith stuffed All-Star Dearica Hamby and then flexed.
“Huge plays,” Sides said. “What’s what I told Lyss just when we were in the locker room.”
Leading by only three points with 56 seconds to go, Hull dashed for an offensive rebound on Mitchell’s 3-point miss. Hull got fouled and made both free throws to push the lead back up to five, and that was that. It’s also important not to overlook Boston. Sides said pregame, Boston wasn’t pleased with her offensive production the last two games. Boston had both more points (24) and rebounds (14) Wednesday than the last two games total, conquering the paint battle.
Young Fever core keep emotions in check, continue hunt for better playoff seed
The compelling story about the Fever clinching the playoffs for the first time since 2016, is that they’ve done it primarily with players all drafted in-house: Mitchell back in 2018, Hull and Smith in 2022, Boston in 2023, and now Caitlin Clark in 2024. Those were the five starters Wednesday and for the last couple of games too. The quintet could’ve let up after this monumental milestone.
They didn’t.
“I just try to get a read off of them,” Sides said of navigating emotions with her young team. “My assistant coaches do a great job. The players are kinda separated amongst all of them and they have a really good feel for where they are. Before a game, during warmups, they’ll come in and let me know … maybe you should say something… the character in that locker room is incredible.”
Sides, the first Coach of the Month in franchise history, told an anecdote of when she was hired for the 2023 season. Rick Fuson asked Sides how long the rebuild would take to get back to playoffs. Sides said four, maybe three, and was hired accordingly for four years. It’s year two.
Clark also said the playoffs were the expectation, it’s no party, and there’s more left to be done.
“We don’t have anything to prove,” Sides said. “We just have to improve.”
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