Indiana Fever loss offers Caitlin Clark a chance to grow as a leader

INDIANAPOLIS — The game was going on, but Caitlin Clark chose not to be a part of it.

The Indiana Fever superstar wasn’t watching from the sideline Friday against the Minnesota Lynx; she wasn’t stuck in foul trouble or nursing an injury. She was in the middle of the action, laying on the court, and had simply given up. It was as if Clark was in a video game and the game-player’s controller died. But this wasn’t virtual. This was the real thing.

This was a matchup — and a potential first-round playoff preview — between a pair of MVP candidates and their respective teams. Yet Clark’s composure had evaporated. After Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier blocked Clark’s shot and sent her to the floor, Clark didn’t get back up. She didn’t even try. Instead, she stared up at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse rafters for a couple seconds, while the Lynx played five-on-four on the other end, resulting in a midrange jumper by Courtney Williams that extended Minnesota’s lead to 10 points.

Clark thought she’d been fouled. A foul wasn’t called. And the Fever’s disastrous third quarter continued as the Lynx held on a for a 99-88 victory. That rage-filled sequence from Clark, one in which she vehemently complained to the refs and had to be subbed out, didn’t decide the outcome of the game. But it certainly wasn’t helpful.

“I think I could have done a little bit better job controlling my emotions,” said Clark, who finished with 25 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds.

Fever coach Christie Sides, while appreciative of Clark’s fiery nature, was more direct.

“It reminds me of Diana Taurasi,” Sides said. “So when she’s upset or mad, that’s what we’ve been working on, trying to figure out how to get past those moments. I was worried she was going to pick up a (technical foul) in that third quarter, and thank goodness she didn’t. But that’s growth, and she’s gotta learn that in those moments, I need my point guard to have a cool head.”

Clark wasn’t the only one.

Fever forward Aliyah Boston was assessed a technical foul early in the third quarter after she argued with an official over what she believed was a missed foul call. Of course, that didn’t change the ref’s mind, and Sides acknowledged that the Fever became too consumed by the officiating. The Lynx were quick to pounce on the Fever’s disarray, flipping a five-point deficit at the beginning of the frame into a 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

What could the Fever learn from their lack of composure? Kelsey Mitchell didn’t mince words.

“I think from a leadership standpoint, we huddle ourselves together as a group to say, ‘Shut up and work. Leave the refs out of it, obviously,” said Mitchell, the Fever’s longest tenured player. “Get to the next play. Get to the next action. Get to the next set.”

And, in theory, get to the next level.

Three nights ago, the Fever clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2016, and from Sides’ perspective, Friday felt like a playoff atmosphere. The crowd was loud, and the play was physical. Nothing came easy, and in the fourth quarter, the Fever responded like a team that finally understood that.

Mitchell scored 8 of her 23 points in the final frame. Boston chipped in with 6 of her 20 points and recorded a block. However, it was Clark who emerged as the main catalyst in the last 10 minutes.

After she regained her equanimity, she changed the game. Clark scored or assisted on 14 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Fever pull within a point, but that was far as Indiana would climb. Trailing 78-77, Clark blocked Alanna Smith’s jumper and secured the loose ball on the ensuing fast break, but she threw an ill-advised pass toward Temi Fagbenle that was easily intercepted by Natisha Hiedeman.

“Honestly, I thought we played really good in the fourth,” Clark said. “My turnover in transition is what I felt like really kind ended the momentum for us.”

Williams responded on the other end with a 3-pointer to push the Lynx’s lead back to four points en route to handing the Fever their second defeat in nine post-Olympics games. Both of Indiana’s losses came at the hands of Minnesota and Collier, who was brilliant yet again. The four-time All-Star finished with a game-high 26 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Clark called the Lynx “the hardest team in the league to guard” because of how well they move the ball, noting that it wasn’t just Collier who made big plays. Bridget Carleton nailed three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to extinguish a potential Fever comeback.

Mitchell said the Fever can learn from Minnesota’s play and the level-headedness it displayed at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which doubled as a pressure cooker when Indiana made its late surge. The Lynx didn’t blink, and it’s a huge reason why they’re now slated as the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoff standings.

“(Minnesota) is the standard,” Mitchell said. “And if you want to compete at that next level and be a part of that playoff run — not just getting there, not just being a part of it, but making a run and making an impact — we’re gonna have to use this as leverage and know that they’re the best. And in order to beat the best, you gotta compete every night.”

And on every play.

Clark was reminded of that lesson Friday when, for a brief moment, she failed to compete to the fullest extent.

“Yeah, I think there’s a line and sometimes, your passion, your emotion can get to you,” Clark said. “But that’s never something I would ever change.”

And as Sides said, the Fever aren’t asking her to change. They’re just asking her to grow.