Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White seems to be taking the Game 1 loss against the Las Vegas Aces as a learning opportunity than a blow to team morale. The real story wasn’t the 102-85 loss—it was the tension between White and Caitlin Clark. With Clark’s frustration at being subbed out and the mismatch in dynamics between White and Clark in the post-game press conference, it’s not hard to see why. While a section of the media called this an alarming observation, Stephanie White has downplayed all this speculation.

“Look, I think we both understand that social media noise doesn’t really have anything to do with what we do. I think, you know, the biggest thing for us is staying focused on our team and staying focused on what we can do to get better,” said White during the pre-game press conference.

“And yeah, I mean, some of this offensive stuff wasn’t working. You know, sometimes you got to get knocked in the mouth to figure things out. So, you know, all of those things can be true. And all those things can be true without there being a controversy.”

The Fever were indeed given a hard jolt in the game. A’ja Wilson dropped 38 points on the night, and Wilson and Co. dominated on both ends of the floor. The Aces’ defense held the Fever to 45% from the field and an even worse 39% from three.

Indiana has perhaps the best backcourt pairing in the WNBA with Caitlin Clark and Stephanie White. But in the last game, nothing worked for the Fever. Clark could only manage 15 points, converting just 6-of-17 shots from the field. The Aces’ tight defense forced Clark to take high-risk shots, which was evident from her converting just three of her 10 shots from beyond the arc.

Even though Clark and Stephanie White’s body language and comments suggested they had different opinions on Indiana’s gameplay, they had one common ground: the Fever’s defensive display on the night.

By Clark’s own admission, Indiana’s defense was an “F” during the game.

“When they score 102 points, it’s hard for us to get kind of that part of it going,” said Clark after the game, while briefly looking towards teammate Aliyah Boston and coach Stephanie White, who were sitting beside her in the press conference.

“They’re good defenders, but at the same time, like we made it hard on ourselves, too. Our actions were sloppy. I thought what we were running just wasn’t great, and nobody got an easy open look. So, a combination of both, but just gotta keep shooting at this point in the year. Is what it is.”

Stephanie White echoed a similar point about the Fever’s defense, but in a different way.

“Yeah, I mean, 28 points off of turnovers. Your first line of transition defense is offensive execution. 28 points off of turnovers and 17 points on the free-throw line. Those are easy buckets. We didn’t do our job,” White said.

“And there’s no defense for 28 points off of turnovers. So we’ve got to be better screen setters. Our timing and our pace, because they’re going to force us to play in the half-court, has to be better.”

But a difference of opinion is not always a bad thing, as White has suggested. Indiana, it seems, has learned their lesson from the first game and has now leveled the series after winning Game 2. Stephanie White will be pleased that Clark has improved on her offensive play, going for a team-high 27 points.

Kelsey Mitchell, who could only muster up 12 points in the previous game, scored 26 points as Indiana won 99-89. Even Aliyah Boston added an impressive and much-needed 22 points. It seems like the Fever’s core trio is back in action.

This win should cool off the speculation for a while. While Clark and White have been seen in a couple of heated exchanges throughout the season, the duo have maintained that it is only because both of them are fierce competitors.

Indiana could very well use that competitive spirit in the series finale, as they face an uphill task of beating the Aces, the defending champions, in their own backyard to advance to the semifinals.