The playoffs are right around the corner, and teams have little to no time to work on their shortcomings. But after the Indiana Fever fell to the Washington Mystics 93-77, despite being the best-scoring team in the league all season long, they took less than 48 hours to get back on their feet.
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With home-court advantage on the line, the Fever locked horns with the No. 1 team in the WNBA standings, the Minnesota Lynx, and secured a 96-77 win as they refused to take their foot off the gas. The Fever and the Lynx are now 1-1 in the 2026 regular season, so this game gave plenty of headlines, but let’s take a closer look at the biggest takeaways from the Fever’s crushing win.
Caitlin Clark’s sideline exchange adds fuel to Indiana Fever coaching narrative
The Fever have barely put their disappointing loss to the Mystics behind them when another sideline moment involving Clark and the coaching staff grabbed attention. During the matchup with Minnesota, cameras caught Fever assistant coach Briann January animatedly speaking to Clark and repeatedly pointing her finger at her. That moment has once again ignited speculation around the 24-year-old’s relationship with the Fever coaches.
As the clip of their conversation went viral, Hero Of The Day took to X and wrote, “This coach is yelling at Caitlin Clark again. There’s no excuse for some nobody to be speaking to the face of the league like this. Caitlin Clark has 10/5/5 (on pace for a trip dub) and is a +11 tonight — What is her problem?”
Clark’s interactions with the Fever coaching staff have already become a recurring talking point, particularly after her heated exchange with head coach Stephanie White during Sunday’s 93-77 loss to the Mystics. That made Tuesday’s footage an easy target for those already questioning whether Clark and the Fever staff always see eye to eye.
Still, the footage itself does not establish that January and Clark were arguing. There has been no confirmation of what was said between the two, meaning the reaction largely stems from how the exchange looked rather than any verified disagreement. And that distinction matters.
For now, though, that moment has become another piece of the larger conversation even as the Indiana Fever star delivered the kind of response that set a record.
The record books had to make room again
Caitlin Clark came out firing against Minnesota, finishing with a team-high 27 points while also stuffing the stat sheet with seven rebounds and nine assists. Her production was especially important with the Lynx being the No. 1 team in the standings, and Clark helped Indiana establish control early as the Fever built a 23-point halftime lead.
Although Minnesota did manage to fight its way back into the game after halftime, cutting Indiana’s lead to seven heading into the fourth quarter, Clark had an answer once again as she knocked down a three-pointer to help the Fever quickly restore a double-digit advantage. Indiana eventually pulled away to secure the win.
But this 27-point outing was more than just another big scoring night for the Indiana Fever star. According to Real App, the 24-year-old now has the most consecutive 25-point games by a point guard in WNBA history, adding another record to a season that has already seen her make plenty of history.
Yet Clark wasn’t the only Fever player reaching a career milestone. Sophie Cunningham chipped in 11 points off the bench, including three triples, and her scoring night pushed her past 2,000 career points. With Clark setting the tone and Cunningham reaching the milestone of her own, Indiana had plenty to celebrate beyond simply putting another win on the board.
Still, the 19-point margin doesn’t tell the whole story, especially with Minnesota missing one of its biggest pieces.
Olivia Miles’ late scratch changes the equation for Minnesota
The Lynx rookie guard was a late scratch from the team after being ruled out with a left calf injury roughly 90 minutes before tipoff. Miles is the engine behind why the Lynx have been so dominant this season. Her 19.8 PPG average, combined with 6.0 assists, has kept Minnesota at the top of the league throughout the season.
Miles even participated in Minnesota’s morning shootaround and remained listed as questionable throughout the day. But after she reached Gainbridge Fieldhouse, she tested the calf with trainers before ultimately being ruled out. It’s still unclear how Miles injured her calf. After all, she dropped 21 points, six assists, and two steals in Minnesota’s 101-89 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday. But her absence made all the difference, which even Stephanie White acknowledged before the game began.
“It changes a lot, certainly, because she’s the head of the snake,” White said during her pre-game media availability. “It changes coverage; It changes who their primary ball handler is. Probably the actions that they run. So, we’ve got to just be prepared for that.”
The Indiana Fever still had to take care of business, but with the Lynx playing without one of their most important players, things were difficult.
Lynx’s ggly night has Napheesa Collier calling it “embarrassing”
After losing three of their previous four games, Minnesota came into the matchup needing to rediscover the defensive identity that had been at the heart of its success all season. Instead, they gave up 57 points in the first half and found themselves in a hole they could never fully escape. With Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams held scoreless and to just two points, respectively, while Collier finished with only nine, Minnesota simply could not generate enough resistance against Indiana.
The 96-77 result left Collier particularly unhappy with what she had seen.
“It’s embarrassing. We should be disappointed and embarrassed about the product that we put on the floor tonight. Not proud of what we did,” she said.
“We know that what we did was unacceptable. I emphasized how proud I was of the group that came in and got us back to the game. I’m very proud of what they did, but we let them down tonight.”
The Lynx shot just 38% from the field while also committing 17 turnovers. The Indiana Fever made sure to make the most of that opportunity and scored 21 points off those turnovers.
So, while this game didn’t go even close to what they would have wanted, the bigger concern now is how quickly the Lynx can put that performance behind them. The Lynx have now lost four of their last five games, which is their worst stretch of the season, and they get almost no time to dwell on it.
They’ll see the Indiana Fever again on Thursday, but this time in Minneapolis — with a chance to show whether this was simply a bad night or a sign of a bigger problem heading into the postseason.