If there’s one piece of good news for the 0-5 Indiana Fever, it’s that Caitlin Clark has arrived as advertised.
She’s the on-floor leader, calling plays, setting up teammates and scoring. The Fever are simply better when she has the ball in her hands. She’s still committing too many turnovers and currently leads the league with seven per game, but, to be honest, they’re not all on her:
Here is another perfect Caitlin Clark pass that her teammate can’t handle and the WNBA stat recorder said it was a turnover on CC.
What is going on with these stat recordings? pic.twitter.com/y4RbamR4cF
— Jordan Stocks (@StockTalks21) May 18, 2024
Just looking at the record suggests that the Fever are very bad, but in their last two games against the Sun and the Storm, they were really close to getting their first wins of the season. Clark said it best in Seattle:
We’re, what, six points away from being 2-3 instead of 0-5. It’s that close. There’s so many instances of going back and watching the film of like little things that you can easily fix and clean up that would go a really long way, and possibly it wouldn’t even come down to one possession. So I think you have to find confidence in that, especially at this point, being 0-5.
That last loss was particularly heartbreaking, as the game remained close and could have gone either way. With 12.5 seconds left in the game, the Storm were up by three and the Fever were inbounding the ball. The ball went to Clark and she was fouled by Sami Whitcomb. Clark went to the line and made two free throws, despite the confusion with the timeouts that really spoiled the emotional ending of the game.
NaLyssa Smith then forced a turnover on the Storm and with 10 seconds left, the Fever had the ball again. During the inbound, Clark was able to separate herself from her defender thanks to a screen. As she was running right, the pass from Kristy Wallace went to her left hand, which she had to extend, and while trying to catch her balance, she was double-teamed. She managed to get the ball to Aliyah Boston, but the Storm were able to force a jump ball. Seattle won the jump, got fouled and ultimately won the game, 85-83.
Boston hasn’t been herself this season. During the game against Storm, she played only 15 minutes and her plus/minus was negative 18. She also had the same amount of points as fouls, with four in each category. She recently deleted several of her social media accounts, so it seems that the pressure has been getting to her.
Aliyah Boston told HR she had to delete Twitter and only safe app she can go on is Tik Tok (in light of scrutiny and criticism coming her and the Fever’s way to start year).
— Chris Williamson (@CWilliamson44) May 20, 2024
What’s next for the Fever
The Fever continue their three-game trip out West, facing the Sparks on Friday and the Aces on Sunday. Both games are highly interesting from the narrative standpoint. The game in Los Angeles will give Clark and the Fever the chance to face off against Cameron Brink and a rebuilding Sparks team. Then, it’s up against the Aces, the gold standard for WNBA teams. The Sparks are 1-2 and the game may be competitive. When it comes to the contest in Las Vegas, it might be reasonable to expect an easy win by the reigning champs. Maybe even a blowout.