Getty Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever walks to the bench past head coach Christie Sides.
The Indiana Fever fell to 9-14 on the season after losing to the 6-17 Washington Mystics on July 10.
After the loss to Washington, Fever head coach Christie Sides faced loads of criticism for her lineup choices, as well as her decision-making late in the game. Fever fans have been asking for her dismissal for a good portion of the season, but after falling to Washington, calls for her to be fired amplified.
Fever star Caitlin Clark played extremely well against Washington, finishing with 29 points, 13 assists and five rebounds. Clark also shot well from downtown, going 5-for-9 from 3-point range in the game.
Considering how well Clark had played throughout the entire game, many fans wondered why Sides chose to draw up a play for Kelsey Mitchell, who had gone 0-for-8 from distance in the game, instead of Clark in the game’s final seconds.
“Christie Sides watched Caitlin Clark drop 29 and decided to draw up a play where she wouldn’t touch the ball with 16 seconds left,” one fan wrote on X.
Fans Call for Indiana Fever to Fire Head Coach Christie Sides
Don’t let Caitlin Clark’s performance distract you from the fact that this is the play Christie Sides draw up down 5 with 15 seconds left
#WNBA
To say fans were upset about Sides’ decision to keep the ball out of Clark’s hands at the end of the game is an understatement.
“The only person who can stop Caitlin Clark is her coach Christie Sides. This is at least the third time the game has come down to a last shot that she hasn’t even touched the ball. Atrocious coaching,” one fan commented on X.
The 89-84 defeat at the hands of the last-place Mystics felt particularly disappointing, as it came immediately after an impressive win over the first-place New York Liberty on July 6.
“The Fever got their most impressive win of the season on Saturday,” Iowa’s News Now’s Owen Siebring wrote on X, “and now they follow it with their most embarrassing loss of the season. If they expect to be a playoff team, you’ve gotta get these wins against the worst teams in the league.”
“I’d fire christie sides after this game, how you let the Mystics look like a top 5 team out there is beyond me,” one fan wrote on X. “This is an embarrassment.”
Even fans of other teams weren’t impressed with Sides:
christie sides ruined this afternoon, this evening, and tomorrow morning for me and i’m not even a fever fan
Indiana Fever Need to Find a Consistent Starting 5
Sides has also put an assortment of starting lineups on the court this season, and the Fever’s loss against the Mystics was no different.
Against Washington, Sides went with a starting lineup of Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, Katie Lou Samuelson and Lexie Hull. Sides made the decision to substitute Hull in for NaLyssa Smith, the latter of whom has started 20 games for Indiana this season.
Sides could have kept Smith in the starting lineup while still having Hull start. In this scenario, Samuelson would come off the bench.
Instead of rotating Samuelson in, however, Sides moved her to power forward, a position Samuelson has experience playing — she just hasn’t started there this season until the Mystics game.
“I don’t think it impacted the whole game,” Sides said about her lineup choice, via Matthew Byrne of ClutchPoints. “That was a coach’s decision and I’m just gonna leave it at that.”
With just three games remaining before the All-Star break, it’s unlikely the Fever will make any major coaching decisions soon. Still, if the Fever continue to lose in embarrassing fashion — and if Sides cannot find some consistency with her lineup choices — she may find herself looking for a new job at season’s end.