Getty Christie Sides and Caitlin Clark during the Indiana Fever's May 14 WNBA game.
The Indiana Fever were blown out by the New York Liberty during Caitlin Clark’s WNBA regular season home debut on May 16. After the 102-66 loss, Fever head coach Christie Sides spoke candidly about her team’s toughness.
“We’ve got to get to a level of toughness,” Sides told reporters, per an Indiana Fever YouTube video. “When things are going south on us, we’re not stopping the bleeding. We’ve got to be able to, I told them earlier, like, that’s what’s going to help us, is when we figure out how to be able to, if somebody keeps punching you… we’ve got to be able to respond to it. We’ve got to be able to give some of that back.
“And that’s where we are,” Sides continued. “We’ve got to get to another level of mental toughness.”
Sides reiterated her strong statement one question later. “We just have to get better. More mentally tough.”
When Sides was asked about the difficult schedule her team faces at the start of the season, she returned to the topic of toughness.
“You know, we missed a lot of easy shots around the bucket tonight,” Sides said. “I think that plays into how we go down and play defense at times. That’s mental toughness. We’ve just got to get an attitude a little bit when people score on us. You just can’t let it be so easy…. It all just goes back to having a little bit of fight, passion, toughness.”
The Indiana Fever’s Tough Early Season Schedule
The Fever don’t have it easy to start the 2024 WNBA season. For their first two games of the regular season, they faced the Connecticut Sun and the New York Liberty.
Connecticut finished the 2023 regular season with a 27-13 record, which was third best in the league. They then lost to the New York Liberty in the WNBA Playoffs Semi-Finals. The Sun’s best player, Alyssa Thomas, was the runner-up in 2023 WNBA MVP voting.
The New York Liberty finished the 2023 regular season with a 32-8 record. After defeating the Sun in the Semi-Finals, they lost to the Las Vegas Aces in the 2023 WNBA Finals. Liberty forward Breanna Stewart won the 2023 WNBA MVP award.
On May 18, the Fever will rematch the Liberty in New York. Then the Fever will travel back home to face the Sun again on May 20.
After that, the Fever will travel cross-country to face the Seattle Storm on May 22. While the Storm went 11-29 last season, they signed four-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith and 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike via free agency in the offseason.
Then the Fever play the Los Angeles Sparks on May 24 before facing the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces one day later.
Caitlin Clark’s Foul Trouble Against New York
Caitlin Clark, the Fever’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, continued to struggle on May 16. She finished the loss with 9 points, including shooting 1 of 7 from three point range.
But the biggest problem with her performance was that she was in constant foul trouble. Clark picked up three fouls before halftime, then added a fourth foul less than two minutes into the third quarter.
She finished the game with five fouls in 30 minutes played.