Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Christie Sides vent frustration after Fever fall to 1-7

INDIANAPOLIS – Christie Sides, her voice hoarse, was short and to the point after the Indiana Fever lost 88-82 to the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.

She was frustrated about her squad’s 3-point defense in the second half. She was frustrated about the Fever’s 26 personal fouls. She was frustrated about some Indiana players spending “too much” time talking to game officials. 

More: Opponents guard Caitlin Clark between free throws. She still scored 30 points.

Takeaways: Caitlin Clark scores career-high 30 points, but Fever lose to LA, fall to 1-7

Most of all, she was frustrated about the Fever’s seventh loss out of eight games this season. 

“It’s really hard to feel good about the performance at all right now,” Sides said. “This is a home game, this is a game we were supposed to win.” 

Although Sides got what she wanted in terms of forced turnovers (19 to 14), offensive rebounds (9 to 4) and points off turnovers (24 to 20), it wasn’t good enough to secure a second victory in five days against Los Angeles, and that’s what mattered to her.

For a near six-minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, the Fever went on a 14-0 run to gain a 43-37 advantage against the Sparks. Gainbridge Fieldhouse was rocking, and Indiana looked perhaps more cohesive than it had all season.

However, Los Angeles went on to hit 10 of its 14 3-pointers in the following 14-plus minutes of play. 

“You don’t give yourself a chance … You can’t do something right for two and a half quarters and then just stop doing it,” Sides said. “ … We were going under some of the screens that were supposed to be going over. We were gambling and getting out of position. 

“ … Instead of us stepping over and stopping them (and) having our teammates’ back, we’re reaching. That’s just a lack of discipline.”

Caitlin Clark sat behind the same press room table less than 10 minutes earlier with her forehead pressed against her microphone. Despite recording a WNBA career-high 30 points, she too was more concerned about the loss.

Clark said she felt like Indiana shot themselves in the foot on defense in the fourth quarter, mostly agreeing with Sides’ assessment of the late-game run by the Sparks. But Clark does feel her defense has improved through the first eight games of the season, acknowledging the criticism she has faced about that aspect of her game since joining the WNBA. 

“It’s been a crazy journey,” Clark said. “ … The biggest adjustment and transition for myself is (that) you got to learn from every single game and then try to go and implement it the next day in a walkthrough and then you play the next game the day after that.”

Aliyah Boston felt the Fever did a solid job defending the 3-pointer aside from the fourth quarter, but she did acknowledge the broken coverage due to screens set by the Sparks. However, she seemed to hint at feeling like the game’s officials were not giving each team equal treatment when it came to foul calls. 

“Sometimes I get certain calls on my positioning, and I was trying to ask some questions about (Los Angeles),” Boston said. “They were doing the same thing, and I was trying to figure out how sometimes I get those calls and we don’t. You’re battling, and it gets frustrating when there’s certain things for you.”

Clark was called for a technical foul late in the first quarter, and while the reasoning was initially unclear for those not on the court, Sides said after the game it came down to the Fever’s excessive chatter toward the officials. She offered up herself as the one who should be talking to the officials — the one who should be in a position to earn a technical foul. 

Sparks guard Aari McDonald was awarded free throws after the foul, and between the two shots, she initially appeared to get in Clark’s face to offer a retort for the technical. However, Clark disputed this, saying McDonald had just accidentally forgotten about her second free throw and was attempting to return to her defensive assignment.

“Kind person, honestly,” Clark said about McDonald, who finished with a season-best 21 points.

Clark was later fouled by McDonald on a 3-point attempt, a call that was ultimately ruled a flagrant. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Clark went 13-of-15 from the free throw line.

Although Clark was insistent she expected the physicality that comes with professional basketball, she suggested she should have been awarded more attempts from the charity stripe against Los Angeles.

“I think everybody’s physical with me,” Clark said. “They get away with things that probably other people don’t get away with. It’s tough, but the fact of the matter is this is a very physical game.”

While the Fever ultimately fell to the one team they have beaten this season, they’ll stay in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for what could be a more challenging matchup Thursday. Indiana is set to face the Seattle Storm (4-3), a squad that previously topped the Fever 85-83 out west.

Clark feels the key to future victories for the Fever must come in the form of preventing long scoring runs, such as the crucial 28-8 second half stretch that may have cost them against the Sparks.

“That seems to be an issue for us, we can never really stop the bleeding,” Clark said, “and it’s just too much to come back from.”

Contact Kyle Smedley via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.