Entering the game with nearly a 57% win probability (according to ESPN) and then building a 20-point lead early on, everything pointed toward the Indiana Fever beating the defending champion Las Vegas Aces on Thursday. But after the game ended in an 86-84 overtime loss, Caitlin Clark didn’t shy away from taking responsibility.
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The Fever guard missed a pair of crucial free throws late in regulation that, if made, would have turned it into a two-possession game with just seven seconds left on the clock. Yet because she didn’t make either of them, the Aces got their opportunity, and Chelsea Gray knocked down a 26-foot buzzer-beater to tie the game and send it into overtime, where the result was no better. Clark addressed the missed free throws during her postgame press conference.
“Obviously just can’t happen. Those are free throws I usually make. Certainly frustrating. Obviously one of them gives us a two-possession lead, and I kind of cost my team there for sure. So that’s on me.”
But those missed free throws weren’t the only reason Caitlin Clark found herself at the center of the backlash after the loss.
Even in overtime, the Fever fought back to reclaim an 84-83 lead, and with just 22 seconds remaining, they still had possession of the ball. All Indiana needed to do was protect the ball. Instead, Caitlin Clark tried to drive inside against A’ja Wilson, only to commit her eighth turnover with just seven seconds left. And that once again gave the Aces one final opportunity, where Gray made them pay by knocking down another 26-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer.
This handed the Fever their 12th loss of the season and their second straight defeat with the playoffs just around the corner.
However, head coach Stephanie White doesn’t believe that Caitlin Clark should be solely blamed for their loss, after all the whole team combined for 22 turnovers, which helped the Aces to score an extra 18 points. The head coach addressed this in the same post-game press conference.
“I think you like that as ownership. But as an athlete and as a coach and as somebody who’s been around for a long time, it doesn’t come down to one singular thing. We know that. She’s disappointed in herself certainly, as I’m sure a lot of our players are, but we gotta use it as fuel, and she’s going to be better. I know she’s going to be better on Saturday because of it. She’s a competitor. She’s a fighter.”
So while Clark was quick to own the two biggest mistakes of the night, White made it clear that Indiana’s collapse wasn’t on one player alone. So with just 13 regular-season games remaining before the playoffs, the Fever now have very little room for error, making their upcoming matchup against the Chicago Sky an important opportunity to get back on track.
In that game, ESPN gave the Indiana Fever a 65% chance of winning, but it will be up to them to make sure they don’t let another opportunity slip away.