Caitlin Clark and Fever learn hard lesson after narrow loss to defending champs Liberty

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INDIANAPOLIS — When the final horn sounded Saturday, Caitlin Clark didn’t want to accept it. Trailing by two points with 2.2 seconds remaining, the Indiana Fever star attempted what would’ve been a potential game-winning 3-pointer. But before she could even get into her upward shooting motion, New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud poked the ball free. As it bounced down the lane and into the arms of Breanna Stewart, the Fever’s final chance to knock off the defending WNBA champs bounced away with it.

The Liberty held on for a dramatic 90-88 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and as the Fever’s second straight home loss sank in, so did Clark’s anger. Arms wide and mouth agape, Clark made a beeline toward the nearest official, Ryan Sassano, and yelled at him as he walked in the opposite direction. When the refs didn’t acknowledge her grievances, she pleaded with her coach, Stephanie White, as White directed her toward their locker room.

It was there, away from the mics and cameras, where Clark likely unleashed her full frustration about Saturday’s late-game officiating that was sure to fuel debate. White made sure to grab a few more headlines when, after a despondent Clark said “I don’t know” about what happened on the final play, the Fever coach sounded off.

“I thought she got fouled,” White said. “I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us the last few games. A minus-31 free-throw discrepancy (over the last three games), and I might be able to understand it if we were just chucking 3s, but we’re not. We’re attacking the rim, and the disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable.”

Before Clark’s no-call, the Fever were on the wrong end of another no-call involving DeWanna Bonner. Tied late at 88-88, the veteran forward caught a pass from Clark near the basket and appeared to get bumped by Cloud, who blocked her layup attempt out of bounds with 10.1 seconds left. Bonner couldn’t believe there was no whistle, and she became even more upset when New York guard Sabrina Ionescu was awarded two free throws 5.9 seconds later after driving to the hoop and being fouled by Fever guard Lexie Hull. Ionescu sank both free throws, which proved to be the difference in the back-and-forth game that included 14 lead changes.

White, who understood she risked a fine from the WNBA for publicly criticizing officials, said it was disappointing that calls haven’t “gone both ways” early in the season for the Fever. She plans to send video clips to the league office, but said she doesn’t feel “like the system works” consistently.

During White’s rant toward the officials, however, she also pointed the finger at her team. Officials didn’t give up a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter. They didn’t allow the Liberty to build a 15-point second-quarter lead. They didn’t let New York shoot 64.3 percent in the first half.

The Fever did all of that, and they paid the price with a gut-wrenching loss.

“We’ve gotta be able to play through (the officiating). We’ve gotta be able to control the things we can control,” White said. “We’re still not recognizing our mismatches. I felt like (Aliyah Boston) had plenty of opportunities. We could’ve gotten her touches down low. We had some turnovers, key turnovers. We settled (for poor shots) at times. We fought, but we can’t dig ourselves a hole from the beginning.”

She didn’t single out a player in her message, stressing the importance of poise and execution, but Clark seemed to be at the heart of it. White didn’t need to say her name. The sellout crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse saw it. Clark had her usual moments of brilliance Saturday, most notably when she drilled a 3-pointer late in the third quarter while being fouled by Liberty guard Rebekah Gardner. Clark followed up her four-point play with a 33-foot 3-pointer at the third-quarter horn to give Indiana a 76-68 lead.

But those momentum-swinging plays were nullified by an overall poor performance. Clark totaled 18 points, 10 assists and five rebounds, but she committed a season-high 10 turnovers — the most she’s had in a game since her WNBA debut — and missed 10 of her 12 3-point attempts. The second-year pro was held to just two points in the fourth quarter and missed three of her four shots, including a questionable 30-foot 3-point try with 29 seconds remaining and the score knotted at 88.

“Not my best shooting night,” Clark said. “I thought I could’ve taken care of the ball a little bit better. Had some tough (turnovers), ones where my arm was getting grabbed, but whatever. Just keep at it and keep shooting it.”

Clark, like her coach, also noted Indiana’s lack of attention to detail, particularly its fourth-quarter dip after a resurgent third quarter. Boston, who led the Fever with game highs of 27 points and 13 rebounds, said the Fever’s inconsistency has been an early theme so far, and they must correct it quickly if they hope to realize the championship goals they declared during the preseason.

“We just played against the defending champs, right? And we were up 12 going into the fourth quarter,” Boston said. “So for us, there is stuff that we look at and say, ‘Listen, this is what worked,’ because we are gonna see them again. And just making sure that when it comes to that fourth quarter, obviously, we know we have to dig deep, especially against them as the defending champs.”

Liberty forward Jonquel Jones scored 14 of her team-high 26 points in the final frame, two more points than the Fever scored as a team. Perhaps that differential would’ve been made up at the free-throw line, when Indiana was on the wrong end of a few late no-calls, but the Fever recognized that taking aim at officials doesn’t absolve Indiana of its own faults.

Clark wasn’t good enough. Nor was her backcourt mate, Kelsey Mitchell, who needed 16 shots to score 15 points. Nor was future Hall of Famer Bonner, who was held without a field goal for the third straight game. Despite their lackluster showings and the vexing conclusion to Saturday’s contest, which dropped the Fever to 2-2, their two losses are by a combined three points. Clark said that the slim margin between victory and defeat is something the Fever can build on.

“We are two possessions away from being 4-0 and a possession away from beating the Liberty here,” Clark said. “It definitely stings, but this is what’s gonna make us better at the end of the year.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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