Caitlin Clark sends a stern warning to her Indiana Fever teammates regarding the playoffs following the latest disaster
Clark urges Indiana to forget the loss and turn its attention toward the postseason
The Indiana Fever couldn't have asked for a worse way to close out the regular season. Minnesota dominated from the opening minutes, racing ahead 25-4 before eventually handing Indiana an 86-66 defeat.
The loss was the Fever's biggest of the season and came with two significant injury scares involving Aliyah Boston and Tyasha Harris.
Caitlin Clark also endured a night she'd rather forget. The Fever guard scored just two points on 1-of-12 shooting, including an 0-for-7 showing from three-point range. It was the lowest-scoring game of her WNBA career.
However, Clark wasn't interested in allowing the disastrous performance to define Indiana's postseason outlook.
“I feel like at this point everybody’s record is zero and zero. We’re going into the playoffs. If we sit and sulk about what happened tonight, yeah, it sucks,” said Clark .
“It is what it is. We kind of came out and got punched in the mouth. We didn’t make shots. Obviously, we had two players go down. This was a pretty crappy night overall.”
Clark wants Fever focused on the playoffs
“If you can’t get up for the playoffs, then you probably shouldn’t be on this team,” Clark said after the game, emphasizing the importance of buying into the group and fighting for the people around them.
The message comes at a crucial moment for Indiana. Boston left the game in the second quarter with a flare-up of a lower-leg issue and didn't return. Harris then suffered a left ankle injury in the third quarter and had to be carried from the floor. The Fever have yet to determine the full extent of either injury.
Those developments could make Indiana's playoff challenge even more complicated. Boston remains an important presence in the frontcourt, while Harris provides depth behind Clark in the backcourt. Losing either player would create another obstacle for a team that's already dealt with considerable roster disruption.
Indiana's shooting was another major problem against Minnesota. The Fever finished with only 66 points and shot 34% from the field. Kelsey Mitchell managed just 10 points, ending her remarkable streak of 27 consecutive games with at least 20 points.
The defeat dropped Indiana to the No. 6 seed, meaning the Fever will face the Las Vegas Aces in the opening round. A win against Minnesota would've moved Indiana into fifth place and sent the team to Atlanta instead.
Now, the regular season is over and the stakes are completely different. Clark knows Thursday's performance wasn't good enough, but rather than focusing on it, she's demanding that the Fever respond when the games matter most.
