INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides backed up her words Thursday night. In the third quarter of the Fever’s 103-88 loss at home to the Seattle Storm, Sides was whistled for her first technical of the season. The coach disagreed with the no-foul call when rookie Caitlin Clark drove to the basket and was held back by her assistant. Tensions already had built up.
In the second quarter, Clark sank her second triple of the night over Seattle’s Victoria Vivians. Both players jawed at each other around midcourt and were both assessed technical fouls. Right after, Clark signaled for the crowd’s volume to get louder and clapped her hands. But regardless of the stint of zeal, the Fever were out of it by the time the fourth quarter began.
This marks Clark’s third technical foul of the season and second in the past two games.
“Two competitive people and hit us with the double-tech,” Clark said afterward. “That’s about it.”
“I feel like we need to get the same calls that are happening on the other end,” Sides said about her tech. “I don’t think we’re getting some touch calls that can go either way. Our players are trying to drive, our objective is to get to the rim… they’re frustrated, but I’m gonna fight like hell for them. I was trying to get them going, get them fired up, let them know I’m fighting for them.”
In Tuesday’s 88-82 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, which was the Fever's latest prior to the Storm, Sides was asked if she got an explanation for Clark’s technical foul that game. She responded that the team was spending too much time talking to the officials, they shouldn’t put it in the ref's hand to dish out costly tech fouls to the Fever and Sides should be the one to get the technicals, not her players.
Her words did spark some public outrage, with some saying that she was throwing her players under the bus: Clark was the only player of hers to get the technical penalty. But two days later, after Clark was hit with another tech and arguably too many arms by Seattle players, Sides stood up for her team. Clark agreed she got hammered physically and appreciated the Sides' tech foul. Sides later said she loves Clark’s fire and also doubled down on the one-sided calls.
Caitlin Clark and NaLyssa Smith get off on the right foot
Caitlin Clark ended Thursday’s contest with 20 points on 6-for-17 shooting, nine assists, and seven turnovers. In the box score, it didn’t look like her best performance. But in the first half at least Thursday, Clark looked the most mature and disciplined at the point-guard position than she has all season. She drove to the basket often, opportunistically hit 3-pointers, and found teammates with ease. She would’ve had 10 assists for another double-double, had teammates made shots.
Fever forward NaLyssa Smith was re-inserted into the starting lineup due to Temi Fagbenle’s left foot injury that will sideline her for two to three weeks. Smith scored 16 points at Seattle the last time these teams met. But Smith thrived for 15 points already in the first half Thursday. Smith scored two baskets in transition via Clark's full-court passes, like how Clark and Fagbenle play.
Katie Lou Samuelson, who missed both triples via Clark passes in the first half, heated up in the second and made four. The Fever’s downside was not making shots. Seattle’s trio of Nneka Ogwumike, Jewell Loyd, and Skylar Diggins-Smith shot 24-for-39 for 57 points. But the Fever only shot 29-for-70 total. Shooting 40% beyond the arc and 90% at the line wasn’t good enough.
Poor defense fails Fever
Seattle’s 103 points are the most the Fever have given up this season. That’s about it.
“Mostly the third quarter is kinda where we lost the game,” Clark said. “You give up that many points in the second half, it’s going to be hard to win… I feel like my shot selection all year has been good, I feel like my shot selection in the second half was really good. There were shots that didn’t go down… it’s not really about offense, it was our defense. The offense was fine.”
The Fever — now 1-8 this season — next play the Chicago Sky on Saturday afternoon at home.
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