Caitlin Clark charged toward the basket, dribbling with her right hand. The rookie halted her advance, crossed behind the back into her step-back stance, and loaded back into her right hand. She juked Kia Nurse good, created enough space, and swished the side-logo triple to put the Indiana Fever up by five points over Cameron Brink and the Los Angeles Sparks with 40 seconds to play.
Clark shrugged her arms, tilted her head, and grinned: Flashbacks to her vintage behavior at Iowa.
The shot iced the Fever’s 78-73 win Friday night in Los Angeles, which snapped their five-game winless streak to start the season. This performance, the median in the Fever’s three-game road trip out west, came with swagger not seen in their two most recent losses.
“I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I seriously think every shot’s gonna go in,” Clark said afterward. “I want to take those shots at the end of the game. I think it's like a mindset and a confidence that you have to have about yourself… I went to the bench after and I was like, I was too. I had missed so many throughout the game. I was like, it was time for them to go in.”
Up until 2:50 in the fourth quarter, with the Fever leading by three points, Caitlin Clark shot 0-for-7 beyond the arc in Friday’s win. The rookie pulled from 33 feet out and hit it to lead by six. Then, after the 5-0 run by Los Angeles trimmed the Fever lead to two points with 60 seconds remaining, Clark crossed up Nurse from 28 feet out. To add insult to injury, Nurse shot 0-for-7 from deep. Clark ended shooting an inefficient 2-for-9 beyond the arc. Teammates helped her in support.
And really, Clark’s 10 rebounds and eight assists helped in return.
The Fever trailed by 11 points at halftime, but backup center Temi Fagbenle erupted in the second half and scored 13 points. Fagbenle substituted minutes for starting forward NaLyssa Smith, who sat in foul trouble. In the team’s recent 88-84 loss versus the Connecticut Sun on May 20, Fagbenle had her first-career double-double. Friday night was her career high in points.
Aliyah Boston’s resurgence
Fever second-year post-player Aliyah Boston recorded her best performance yet of the season, scoring 17 points on eight baskets. She held her own over Sparks veteran Dearica Hamby and taller rookie Cameron Brink, averaging more than three blocks per game.
Boston hadn’t made more than five shots in the team’s five losses and scored in spurts Friday night. For head coach Christie Sides, Boston’s efficient scoring wasn’t even perhaps her greatest contribution, though.
“She almost brought a tear to my eye,” Sides said. “Because when she walked up, I didn’t know what she was about to say. She just walked up (during pregame) and grabbed me and it was exactly what I needed in that moment. She said, ‘Coach, take a breath. Relax.’ She recognized that the pat on the back, it just means so much. This one feels good… the way that they fought.”
The Fever’s wakeup call
Boston began Friday by missing her opening three shots. Caitlin Clark missed seven consecutive 3-pointers. Teammate Kelsey Mitchell shot 2-for-8 up until the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter. But Mitchell really heated up and made four of her next six shots, eventually leading
Indiana with 18 points. The storyline of the team’s 85-83 loss at the Seattle Storm Wednesday was she and Clark were brutally inefficient. But at least on Friday, they turned it on at the right time.
There were head-scratching moments previously in the second half. For instance, Brink had to sit toward the end of the second quarter due to foul trouble. The Sparks outscored the Fever 14-9 with their shorter backup. Another instance: the Fever’s second-half 11-0 run tied it 45-all. In the final six minutes of the frame, they didn’t have any turnovers. The Sparks posted four and yet outscored Indiana 11-8. Los Angeles backups Rickea Jackson and Aari McDonald scored all 11.
What began as an outstanding comeback for the Fever fizzled out to keep the deficit after the end of the third quarter. They trailed by three points versus the Sun on May 20, following the third quarter, and lost. They led by two points after the third at the Storm and lost. They trailed by three points to the Sparks — and held. The Fever forced six LA turnovers in the fourth quarter and they didn’t allow offensive rebounds: some areas they mightily stumbled with Wednesday.
The Fever have always punched back in the third quarter this season. Only Friday, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell punched the Sparks into knockout with clutch and confident 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. The Fever played with grit and swagger like they always knew that’d be the outcome.
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