The Indiana Fever may have just sent the rest of the WNBA a playoff warning, dominating the league-leading Minnesota Lynx with a convincing 96-77 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. However, Caitlin Clark still spelled out what his Fever team can do when everything clicks while speaking in the postgame press conference.
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In a video shared on the Fever’s YouTube channel, Clark made it clear that she has plenty of confidence in what the Fever can accomplish in the postseason.
“I think what I like is we’re scary when we’re clicking. We’re the best offensive team in the league, and we’ve shown moments where we can be really good defensively… And I think for us, it’s just finding the level of consistency.”
That consitentcy gap reared its head in the third quarter when the Lynx nearly eliminated the massive 23 point lead that the Indiana Fever had built at the end of the first half. Cheryl Reeve benched her starters and played her reserve players, who narrowed the gap down to just 7 seven points at the start of the fourth quarter.
“The third quarter, [snorts] we eliminate that, and I think we’re a championship contender. It’s like moments like that you just can’t have, especially in the playoffs,” said Clark. “But I think this team has done a lot of really great things.”
“We have a lot of different things we can get to on offense and even on defense. And I thought tonight was a great example of what we can do… So, if we play like that, it’s going to be really hard to stop.”
Coming off a deflating loss to the Mystics, the Indiana Fever came out with a different look against the Minnesota Lynx. They played with aggressive energy from the jump and put on a clinic, leading by as many as 29 points in the first half. Apart from the third quarter, when the Lynx opened with a blistering 18-0 run and eventually cut the lead to seven, it was quite a dominant performance.
Caitlin Clark was especially instrumental in the Fever’s eventual victory after they regained their composure in the fourth quarter and eventually pulled away with the 19-point victory. Clark paced the Fever with a stellar near-triple-double, racking up 27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. It was, however, not her alone who put on that level of performance.
As usual, Kelsey Mitchell was also quite impressive, contributing 20 points to extend her WNBA-record streak to 27 consecutive games scoring 20 or more points, while also delivering three rebounds and four assists. Aliyah Boston was also impressive, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and controlling the paint with seven rebounds.
It was, however, beyond just a three-player show. Sophie Cunningham’s 11 points and Mykala Timpson’s eight also served as crucial contributions. In short, it was an all-around offensive display, a testament to the reputation they’ve built all season as the best offensive team in the league.
But beyond their offensive firepower, the Indiana Fever’s defense in that game was also highly aggressive, physically imposing, and completely dictated the tempo, especially during the dominant first half. They held the high-powered Minnesota offense to just 16 points in the first quarter and 18 points in the second quarter. And due to the constant ball pressure, they limited the Lynx starters to a miserable 34% shooting from the field in the first half.
Without doubt, pulling off such a dominant performance against the Minnesota Lynx says a lot about the Fever and their confidence heading into the playoffs. Before then, however, they’ll face the Lynx once again in their last regular-season game. Another performance of this level is definitely a promising sign of what the Fever could bring to the postseason.