Day: September 26, 2024

The first year of the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark era came to an end Wednesday night in an 87–81 loss to Connecticut in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. The Fever had an early lead then fell behind by double-digits multiple times, the last time midway through the fourth quarter, before mounting a furious rally and taking the lead with two minutes to play. Three consecutive Sun 3’s ended the hopes of getting the series back to Indianapolis for a decisive third game.

The game was a microcosm of the entire season. The Fever looked brilliant at times; totally helpless against an older, more experienced foe at others. There were possessions when the Fever struggled to get on the same page, the offense bogging down when the wrong player got the ball and no one moved to help them. However, during the run when they grabbed the lead, they were locked in, making passes before teammates began their cuts and the ball getting to the ideal spot at the ideal instant. For a team with almost no bench depth that required Clark and Kelsey Mitchell to play every minute of a brutally tough game, the Fever did pretty damn good to push the game to its closing seconds.

The other thing from this game that made it a good summation of the entire season: the building was packed, and it felt like half the crowd was cheering for the Fever. It was more like a high school tournament game on a neutral court than a professional playoff game played on one team’s home court over 800 miles away from the road team’s arena.

And there was Caitlin’s performance. She swished her first two long 3’s of the game. She made a few amazing passes. She also had a number of shots fall short during a stretch in the second half when she looked completely gassed. While she had just three turnovers, those were all because she got a little sloppy with the ball. A couple other probable turnovers deflected off the defense and went out of bounds. Teammates couldn’t finish when she set them up perfectly. She bickered with Sun players, the refs, and even the fans. Again, it all summed up her first year in the league.

I don’t think you can give her rookie year anything but an A. She led the league in assists and finished in the top 10 in scoring. Even people who were bullish on her transition to the pro game wouldn’t have expected 19+ points and over eight assists a game. There were rocky moments throughout the season, but she got better as she got more comfortable with both the pro game and her teammates. She handled all that came with being the new face of the league wonderfully. Holly Rowe interviewed her after the first quarter last night, a quarter in which she had jawed with both DeWanna Bonner and the refs, and she smiled and laughed when Rowe called her “spicy.” She’s been great with the media all year, which can’t be easy. The Fever had the highest home and road attendance numbers in the league, and blew away every TV rating number.

Her season was not perfect. She often plays with too much of an attitude. One local writer, appearing on a national podcast, said she plays “like an asshole.” Which he loved, for the record. I thought that was a solid way to label her: I bet she wears everyone out over the course of the game. She came very close to earning a one-game suspension for earning too many technical fouls during the regular season. Honestly she probably deserved that seventh T many times and was fortunate that refs walked away from her. I think she’s too negative when things don’t go her way. She flops a lot on hard contact while she hammers people on the other end. She’s not the first player to do any of that.

My biggest critiques, though, are about her game, and things that will get better the longer she plays. She needs to tighten up her handle a little, as she was picked clean too often by defenders like Connecticut’s Dijonai Carrington. She was never a great defender in college, often playing free safety rather than directly guarding people. She needs to improve her D both to help her teammates and avoid some of the cheap fouls she gets because she’s slow to a spot. She had a tendency to check out momentarily when she was pissed at the refs or herself, forcing her teammates to cover for her. She’ll get stronger which will help every aspect of her game. She just ended a 12-month cycle of nearly non-stop play. She claims she has no plans to either play overseas or in either of the 3-on–3 options available over the next few months, which hopefully means both rest and a chance to work on her body and game outside the rigors of the normal practice-play-repeat cycle of the season.

I have no idea how WNBA free agency and roster building works. Kelsey Mitchell is a free agent and the Fever absolutely need to bring her back. She was a perfect compliment to Clark in the backcourt, a cool, steady counter to Clark’s more fiery game. They also have to find someone who can play both guard spots off the bench, giving Clark and Mitchell the opportunity to sit down without the team falling apart in their absence. Aliyah Boston needs help on the boards, as giving up offensive rebounds was often the biggest factor in their losses and defensive rebounding fueled their attacking game.

There were some other negative aspects to the season, but those came from the outside. Commentators and fans who insisted on making the season a binary Caitlin vs Angel Reese competition until Reese suffered a season-ending injury. The people who used Clark’s presence as a platform to project their own political arguments without considering if she felt the same or asking for her support.

After Wednesday’s game, Sun player Alyssa Thomas called out Fever fans for racist comments on social media. Now, I live in a deeply red state, so I have no doubt a lot of what she was referencing indeed came from people here in Indiana. I’m betting, though, most of them came from people who probably rarely, if ever, watched a WNBA game before this year, have zero interest in the league aside from Clark, and view her as their opening to take shots at people within the league who say things and live their lives the commentators don’t like. The WNBA is filled with intelligent, vocal women who stand up for causes they believe in. A lot of those women are Black. A solid chunk of them are gay. Many of them lean to the political left. What better way to own the woke libs than to tell these people to shut up and dribble while supporting the woman they assume to be white, Christian, conservative savior from Iowa now playing in Indiana?

Of course, other than liking a Taylor Swift post, Clark hasn’t made a peep about politics. She may not care about politics, one of those athletes far more consumed with the game than anything else. Or she may be aware that she has a unique platform and doesn’t want to offend anyone. Or maybe she does have strong feelings one way or the other, but was just overwhelmed by all she had to deal with this year and decided she wasn’t ready to step out onto any political limbs. Look what liking a post did. Can you imagine if she actually expressed an opinion?[1]

That really should be a different post and I’ve already wasted too much time on it.

The big takeaway is that this was a terrific first season in Indiana for Clark. She and the team got much better from May-to-September. Two seasons ago the Fever won five games. This year they won 20. I can’t tell you the last time I willingly watched a WNBA game before this season. I probably watched 30–35 of the Fever’s games this year. I’m excited about the future of the team. Hopefully I find an affordable way to get L and I to a game next season.