The Indiana Fever picked up an 81-74 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, and although Caitlin Clark has impressed this season, she did make some negative history with her 139th turnover, which is the new record for the most turnovers in a single season in WNBA history, according to Myron Medcalf of ESPN.
Clark did not have the most efficient game, scoring 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting and 2-for-11 from three. She did add six assists, and she passed Sue Bird for the most assists in a season by a rookie, which is a positive for Caitlin Clark.
In the win for the Fever, Caitlin Clark did turn over the ball six times. She is tasked with running the show for Indiana in her rookie season, and teams guard here essentially from the inbound because she has great range and can hit threes from the logo. It is understandable that her turnover count is high, but setting the single-season record for turnovers was not something she had in mind, and is undoubtedly something that she will want to improve on as she gets older.
Clark has figured some things out and has gotten better throughout her rookie season with the Fever, which is really encouraging. To many, it is viewed as a matter of time until she figures out how to play at her best at the WNBA level. It will be interesting to see how she fares the rest of the season, especially after the break for the Olympics, because she essentially has been playing all out since the start of last college basketball season.
Fever improving as season goes along
The Fever had a very rough start to the season, and had to dig themselves out of that hole. With the help of Clark, along side others like Aliyah Boston, the Fever have won three of their last four, beating quality opponents in the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and Lynx. The loss to the Washington Mystics in that stretch was very disappointing, and it is worth noting that the Lynx were without Napheesa Collier on Sunday.
Still, the Fever have to feel happy about where they are after this recent stretch of play. They are at 11-14 overall, which is good for the seventh seed in the league. They have an opportunity to chase down a team like the Mercury as well with a strong finish to the season.
Indiana has one more game before the Olympic break on Wednesday against the Dallas Wings on the road. It would be great to enter the break with a win. The Fever return on August 16 at home against the Mercury, and that is a big opportunity to make progress in the standings. The month of August finishes with five more games against the Seattle Storm, Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky. There are some big matchups against good teams in that stretch.
The Fever then have eight games remaining on the schedule in September, with a game against the Lynx and two against the Las Vegas Aces sticking out as the toughest. The remaining matchups against the Wings, Los Angeles Sparks, Dream and Mystics are very winnable.
It will be interesting to see where the Fever finish in the standings, and who they match up against in a potential playoff series.