The Indiana Fever were looking to end their season on a high against the Minnesota Lynx, but as Caitlin Clark’s comments after the game show, that was clearly not the case. The Lynx showed why they are the top dogs as they dismantled a Fever side 86-66 that had two key players go down in the game due to injuries. Clark gave a blunt assessment of the game and their path forward in the post-game press conference, per The Ballers Magazine.

“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.
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 said.

“I think for us it’s like, you’ve got to do it for the people around you. You’ve got to buy in. I’m excited. If you can’t get up for the playoffs, then you probably shouldn’t be on this team. I think that’s the great thing about it. You look at one through eight in this league right now.”

It was a night to forget for Caitlin Clark, as she finished with just two points facing the lockdown Lynx defense. Despite this, Clark still insists that the Fever still have the players to make a deep postseason run.

“It’s anybody’s to take. For us, it’s like we have to have the mentality going into the playoffs. Let’s go steal the first one, one game at a time. We have three days to prep and get ready. I think just turn our focus to that,” Clark added.

The Fever found themselves trailing by 30 points just after the first half. It was a night of woeful shooting for the Indiana team, as they made just 25 of their 73 shots from the field, with an FG% of just 34%. Their shooting beyond the arc was no better, as they scored only five of 32 attempts.

Kelsey Mitchell, who has dominated the scoring charts all season and has the WNBA record for most consecutive 20-point games, could muster just 10 points. Mitchell, who has a season FG% of 51.4%, could only convert three of her 12 shots on the night.

To add to the Fever’s misery, Aliyah Boston went down with a lower-leg injury flare-up in the second quarter. The injury occurred with roughly 2:45 remaining in the second quarter, and she was escorted back to the locker room. Boston did not return for the second half of the game.

This is a very troubling development for Stephanie White. Boston has been the de facto presence guarding Indiana’s paint. She is averaging 1.5 steals, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game, and leads the Fever in all three of these stats. For a team built on high-octane play, Boston adds stability in the defense. Earlier in the season, ESPN analyst  Rebecca Lobo highlighted that Boston’s absence may trouble Indiana more than any other player on the team.

“They’ve been historically good offensively, but their interior presence on the defensive end in particular could use a little bit of work, and that especially looks suspect when Aliyah Boston isn’t on the floor.”

And if losing Boston was not enough, Indiana lost Tyasha Harris to an injury in the third quarter as well.

Harris suffered the scare with 3:28 left in the third quarter. After receiving an entry pass from Sophie Cunningham, she drove down the right side of the lane, collided with Minnesota’s Nia Brodie on a layup attempt, and went down awkwardly on her left ankle. She was eventually carried off the court.

Caitlin Clark and the Fever will hope that both Boston and Harris’ injuries will be nothing serious. Harris spent the majority of last season on the sidelines, and Boston has also missed game time at the start of the season. Having both of them will be crucial for the Fever’s squad rotations.

Indiana will face a tough test as they take on the Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the postseason.