The Indiana Fever opened up their season a month ago, with a game against the Connecticut Sun. Four days ago, the teams met for the third time this year. So it should make sense to compare the two games, just to see how—and if—the Fever have made progress during those 12 games, right?
On the surface, things don’t look too good; the Fever lost 89-72, scoring one more point than they did on opening night, while allowing the Sun to score three fewer points. Connecticut, though, took it light during the second half. In the first half, they scored 55 points, punctuated by a 16-4 run to close out the second quarter. Overall, it appears nothing much has changed. The Fever are bad defensively.
On the offensive end, things also don’t look good. Caitlin Clark did not score a single basket in the second half. Head coach Christie Sides just took her out of the game, limiting time on the court to 22 minutes in total. When was the last time she played just 22 minutes during a game? On February 12, 2023 in a blowout win against Rutgers. She was taken off the court because, as explained by Sides, the team was down by 28 points and Clark was in foul trouble. During the postgame press conference, before anybody asked a single question, Sides said:
At this level you can’t coach…
