Ninety-four, eighty-three. The Indiana Fever's season is over. Here's how we got here. Indiana dropped Game 1 in Las Vegas 102-85, then forced a Game 3 with a 99-89 win at Gainbridge on Tuesday. Thursday night in Vegas, the defending champion Aces closed it out and eliminated the Fever in the first round. Yeah. This is the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast. Today, what Clark, Mitchell and White said after it ended, the technical that boiled over in the second quarter, and what this group takes into the offseason. The season's done, but the Fever story isn't. Follow the show and you won't miss the offseason.
Caitlin Clark at the Fever's postgame press conference, via The Ballers Magazine:
it's a one possession game and we have the ball. So, like we were right there and I I felt like we probably played a C game.
Some context. Clark was talking about a challenge with about two minutes left. Her point was that if it gets called correctly at the monitor, Indiana's down one possession with the ball. And Stephanie White gave the number everybody's going to be quoting all weekend. Vegas had 35 free throws, Indiana had 20. Clark got asked about taking an elbow to the mouth with no call, and her answer was, your guess is as good as mine. I'd put the whistle second, though. A reporter pointed out Clark had 11 in the first quarter and seven after that. She and Mitchell both talked about missing shots they usually make, and Clark said maybe the two of them make another eight between them and it's a completely different game. Fine, the shots didn't fall. But she also said the free throws are what killed the pace. Every trip to the line lets Vegas set its defense, and Indiana wins this series by getting out and running. Game 2 they ran. Game 3 they couldn't. White said the same thing. Late in the game the offense ended up in contested, late-clock shots, and she credited the Aces' physicality and pressure. Her words: that's what championship teams do. I hate that she's right.
Akshat Rajput, writing for EssentiallySports, on the second-quarter flashpoint:
WNBA reporter Tony East later reported that Stephanie White wanted to take a timeout and challenge the call but missed the official timeframe for making the challenge. This was perhaps the reason for her increased frustration, and this time White was awarded a technical foul for protesting. Aliyah Boston had to help her coach off the floor.
Look at the play, though. Around 8:52 in the second, Lexie Hull and Brianna Turner get tangled off the ball, Turner's got her arm wrapped around Hull's, Hull ends up on her back, and the foul goes on Hull. I'd have been on the court too. Except the challenge window. Per Tony East's reporting, White wanted it and missed the timeframe. You can be right about the call and still not get the review. Under league rules, that technical comes with a 500-dollar fine. Five hundred bucks to stand up for your player in an elimination game. Honestly, put it on my card. What matters more is the game state around it. EssentiallySports had Indiana down 63-53 midway through the third, with A'ja Wilson already at 28 and Clark, Mitchell and Boston at 13 apiece. Both teams had led by eight at different points. This one was a fight the whole way. And with the timing of it, after all that rift talk from Game 1? Boston's walking her coach off the floor. That's not a fractured locker room.
Brian Haenchen at the IndyStar was with the team in Vegas before tip:
LAS VEGAS — Vibes with the Indiana Fever as they prepared for Thursday's elimination game vs. the Las Vegas Aces in their best-of-3 opening-round WNBA Playoffs series were incredibly high and remarkably loose.
Raven Johnson as the bubbly rookie, Myisha Hines-Allen as the agent of chaos, Boston joking around with a uniform question. That's the group I'll remember from this year. And the postgame matched it. Clark said what she'll take into the offseason is how the locker room was always together. She also said that in her opinion Kelsey Mitchell had the best season of any guard there's ever been in this league. After the scoring record and the threes record? I'm not arguing. And Mitchell kept it simple. Keep your head up, learn from playing a team full of playoff experience, and get back here next year. The Clark detail I'd flag is the workload. She said she hasn't taken a break from the game in close to a year and a half, between USA Basketball in December and March and then this season. She called it the best season she's had, and said she still has plenty to improve. She also joked she'll probably get kicked out of the gym for a while. Good. Kick her out. Rest the back, then come get the Aces next year. Five playoff games and one playoff win for Clark so far. The core is set. The questions now are the wings, the bench, and how you beat a champion in a three-game series.
Have feedback on the season, story ideas for the offseason, or a correction? Email us at indianafeverdailyfancast at lantern podcasts dot com. We'd love to hear what you want covered next.
The Fever's season ended Thursday, Oct. 1, in Las Vegas, and we'll be back Monday with the start of the offseason picture. Links to every story are in the show notes, so check out the ones you want to dig into. That's the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.