“PACERS ARE THE GREATEST COMEBACK TEAM I’VE EVER SEEN.” An elated Caitlin Clark wrote after the NBA counterpart of the Indiana Fever, the Indiana Pacers, came back from a 14-point lead in the last three minutes, with Tyrese Haliburton making the game-winning shot. Now it was her turn to shine on the court on the big stage against the defending champions, New York Liberty.

The electric atmosphere at Gainbridge Fieldhouse amplified every play, with a sold-out crowd of 17,274 roaring for the Fever as they faced the defending WNBA champions. The game carried added weight as Indiana sought to rebound from a 102-66 loss to the Liberty earlier in the season, a defeat that exposed Clark’s early struggles against New York’s physical defense.

She came out strong, collecting 5 assists and 7 points in a tightly contested first quarter in which they went 30-29 behind; her trademark three-pointers were still missing. She pulled up once from 27 feet but missed. After going without a single make from beyond the arc in the previous game for the first time in her WNBA career, the question lingered: was a cold streak starting to take hold?

The answer was absolutely not; Clark came out and broke the 69-minute drought in the third quarter. Clark hit a 3-pointer with 64 seconds left in the frame and also drew a foul in the process. Tyrese Haliburton was in the audience in a Fever hoodie just hours after a Game 2 win at Madison Square Garden, immediately got on the flight and was back home to support Clark and Co. He was absolutely flabbergasted with that four-point-play and his reaction was caught on camera. Her mojo was back with that long-range shot as she proceeded to hit another from farther away.

“Yeah, i think just staying confident in myself, keeping shooting, keeping battling…” she told the CBS broadcast after the third quarter.

Haliburton himself had a headlining three-pointer in Game 1 against the New York Knicks. With time running out and his team down by two, Haliburton drove toward the lane, looking to tie the game. But Knicks center Mitchell Robinson read the play, leaving his man to cut off Haliburton’s path to the rim.

Recognizing the help defense, Haliburton pulled back and made a split-second decision to go for the win. He stepped back behind the arc — or so he believed — and launched a potential game-winner. The shot had too much force, clanging off the front of the rim. The ball rocketed straight upward, climbing as high as the shot clock before dropping cleanly through the net.

Can’t blame Clark for going crazy after that play and she even texted him after her Atlanta win. “I was actually texting him after our last game against Atlanta,” Clark said. “We have a group chat and talk about all sorts of stuff. Teams do the same thing to him—they try to take the ball out of his hands early in transition. And I think, at times, the way we play can be very similar to how the Pacers play.”

She continued, “But first of all, he’s one of my good friends. It’s nice to be able to just talk basketball and understand each other. We keep it fun—it’s not anything deep—but it’s great to have those conversations.”

They both share a working relationship with each other and are good friends. And that immediate flight must have been worth it for Tyrese after the kind of game that Fever-Liberty turned out to be. He saw another comeback but by the wrong team, as the Liberty staged a rally to lead from a 12-point disadvantage within minutes in the third quarter. Clark was on fire with her assists and long-range shots. In the final minutes, it came down to the line — the free throw line, that is. Successful free throws from Jones and Aliyah Boston tied things up at 88-all. Fever missed three chances to take the lead after that and you don’t give that much rope to a team like Liberty.

For the final seconds, Sabrina Ionescu had the ball and she drove into the paint, drawing a foul from Lexie Hul. She buried the free throws. Needing a three-pointer, Clark was their only option, but she couldn’t get the shot off and appealed for a foul, which was not given. A nail-biting finish that just did not fall their way, but Clark finished with yet another double-double with 18 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds. She came back strongly after that lackluster game against the Dream.

Caitlin Clark’s turnovers proving to be a problem once again?

Clark had a sublime game against the defending champions, weaving through their defense while also pulling up with those three-pointers. Clark’s vision and passing were also immaculate but this one aspect of her game came up once again. Her turnovers.

In the first few games of her career, she was repeatedly fumbling the ball, still adjusting to the pace of the game. In her WNBA debut game, she had 10 turnovers and recorded a total of 51 in the first month. But we knew that about her. It was consistent with her college stats, where she averaged 4.6 per game. Now the first few games were a little extreme but expected. As the season went on those numbers reduced and she ended up averaging 5.6 turnovers per game

The game against Liberty saw her lose the ball 10 times out of the team’s 16. To add more context, Liberty turned over the ball 12 times as a team. To be fair to Clark, Liberty has one of the best defenses in the league, especially when it comes to stealing the ball, as they are the second best with 8.7 per game. With Natasha Cloud, Kennedy Burke, Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich, and Jonquel Jones on the floor, Clark was up against relentless defenders.

Cloud, in particular, proved to be a constant thorn in her side. She finished with five steals and three blocks, capping it off with a standout defensive possession against Clark to help seal the game. It’s not all on her but she will need to work on this if they have to seriously challenge for the title.