In a game that will go down as one of the best offensive performances in franchise history, cameras caught Caitlin Clark and Connecticut Sun guard Saniya Rivers exchanging words late in the third quarter. As the back-and-forth escalated, Clark was caught telling Rivers to “look at the scoreboard,” before the officials stepped in and handed both of them technical fouls. With Clark earning her seventh technical, the Fever guard and Fever coach Stephanie White gave their take on the situation.
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Under WNBA rules, Caitlin Clark now sits just one technical foul away from an automatic one-game suspension and a $1,500 fine. Given how important she has been to Indiana’s success this season, losing her for even one game is something the Fever can hardly afford after the roller-coaster start they endured so far.
“I’m never going to back down. I think just like continue to try to control your emotions the best you can, and that intensity and that fire is what makes me me,” Clark said during the post-game presser as per The Athletic’s James Boyd.
“But also, like, knowing my team needs me and finding a good balance of that. But I don’t think I’m going to be playing with that in the back of my head. That might hinder my play a little bit. So, just continue to be myself and then just try to refocus to focusing on my teammates and how I can help them.”
When she was asked whether she believes the suspension is now inevitable, Caitlin Clark said, “I don’t know. I can’t predict the future. You gotta ask the magic 8 ball.”
CC now leads the WNBA with seven technical fouls. She has been assessed techs for clapping, heated arguments with officials, and verbal exchanges with opponents. So while Clark isn’t sure whether a one-game suspension is inevitable, it’s clearly something her coach has started thinking about.
“If she wants to be strategic about which game she doesn’t want to play, then she’ll let ‘er fly,” Stephanie White joked after the game.
Clark also clarified what exactly went down right before the official handed her the technical. “She said she was locking me up, so I said, ‘Scoreboard,’ and the ref didn’t like that,” CC said about her back-and-forth with Rivers.
Before the Indiana Fever’s matchup against the Connecticut Sun, Caitlin Clark was asked whether she planned on changing her approach to the game. She was just two technical fouls away from an automatic suspension. The 24-year-old didn’t hesitate and said, “No.”
With the Fever looking like one of the hottest teams in the league heading into the All-Star break, their biggest star earning a suspension would be the last thing they want.