Everyone is trying to figure out what happened to the Indiana Fever after they fell to the Minnesota Lynx 86-66 in the regular-season finale.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark had the worst game of her career, posting 2 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal in 18 minutes. She shot 1-of-12 and missed all 7 of her three-pointers in the loss. Indiana pulled its starters at halftime after falling behind by 30 points.
While something like this is usually just a fluke, some think it might not be. It may have all started just a few days ago.
What Happened to Caitlin Clark in Indiana Fever’s Loss?
In Indiana’s 96-77 win over Minnesota on Tuesday, Fever assistant coach Briann January was seen yelling at Clark on the sidelines.
Hall of Fame broadcaster Linda Cohn hopped on her podcast after the Fever loss. Cohn believes the incident between January and Clark, along with Fever head coach Stephanie White allowing it to happen, could affect the team.
“Let me tell you something. The reason why I bring this up, and this happened Tuesday night, look at the rippling effect. Will you look at the rippling effect of what happened tonight, on Thursday? And by the way, Stephanie White, this ultimately falls on you. You’re the head coach. How can you allow your— one of your assistants yelling at your star player when that star player was having a great game? Even if she was having an awful game, you don’t do that. You don’t do that in public where people in the first, second, and third row can say— hear everything that was said. I mean, this team should be coming together right now, and it looks like they fell apart, and they did so tonight. And I wouldn’t be surprised if what happened between January and Clark back on Tuesday had a rippling effect to what happened tonight. There’s too much of a circus act. There’s too many distractions. You see the difference when Cheryl Reeve coaches, and you see the difference when Stephanie White coaches. Okay, I mean, I’ve seen the difference. There’s a culture. So again, I don’t know what January said. Maybe it had absolutely nothing to do with Clark firing up the crowd. We don’t know, but whatever the explanation is, these public confrontations have to stop.”
This was still the best season of Clark’s career. She averaged more points than any point guard in WNBA history. She finished the year averaging 22.3 points, 8.3 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game.
Indiana Fever & Caitlin Clark Shift the Focus to Playoffs
The loss pushed the Fever back to the sixth seed in the playoffs. They will be facing the Las Vegas Aces in the first round.
Players like Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell still give the Fever plenty of talent to compete against the Aces. The Las Vegas team has won many games over the years.
Clark, though, will have to carry her team through the playoffs. She faces the pressure of winning a WNBA title after three years in the league. Anything short of that would be considered a major disappointment.
Blame Was Assigned for Caitlin Clark’s Career-Low Game in Fever Loss