Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever could not hold on to the momentum once again. They stumbled into another loss to the New York Liberty.
The 83-75 loss marked Indiana’s fifth defeat of the season, dropping them to 5-5. After the game, Clark spent her time at the podium picking apart her own night, with stacked fouls and trips to the line she never earned.
Caitlin Clark Gets Brutally Honest on Foul Trouble During Loss vs. Liberty
Clark did not blame the referees after the Fever lost to the Liberty on Saturday, but was brutally honest about the foul trouble that has been affecting her impact in recent weeks.
After the game, the two-time All-Star discussed what went wrong, both on defense and at the free-throw line.
She said the fouls come partly from a bigger defensive role this season.
“I’m probably guarding a lot more on-ball than I have in the past few years, just put into more action,” she said. “You have a higher percentage of getting foul calls on you. You know, sometimes I’m doing my best, keeping my hands out.”
Clark has now picked up at least four fouls in four straight games, but Saturday’s hurt the most. The Fever led by 3 points with roughly 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, when she committed her fifth foul of the night.
The Liberty took over from there and completely nullified any momentum Indiana had built up to that point.
Clark also owned up to the calls she could have avoided, adding, “But there were a couple [fouls] that were just dumb tonight, and that’s on me, and I can’t do those, especially the ones I saw in the third quarter, and early in the fourth quarter.”
Clark finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists on a disappointing 4-of-14 shooting performance. She did not attempt a single free throw all night, and the Fever were outshot at the line significantly.
In contrast, Liberty’s Breanna Stewart attempted 21 free throws alone, six more than the entire Fever roster.
“You know, I also, in return, need to do a better job getting to the free-throw line,” Clark continued. “Those are easy, free points, and I haven’t shot many free throws this year. Just finding ways to make the refs call the same foul in return on the other end.”
Amid this free-throw disparity, head coach Stephanie White declined to place the blame on the officiating and highlighted the team’s defensive shortcomings.
“We got impatient. We didn’t help her out, we didn’t plug the gaps. Some of those are rotation-based, but some of them our team defensive positioning has to be better. And that can take some pressure off [Clark] if we’re in the right spots.”
Indiana had a lot of opportunities to win, but 11 missed layups also added to their woes.
One of the more consistent performers this season, Aliyah Boston, also struggled against the Liberty, recording 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
Kelsey Mitchell, on the other hand, scored 21 but was still inefficient the entire night, going 7-of-21 from the floor.
After their underwhelming start to the season, the Fever and Clark will look to bounce back on Monday against the Washington Mystics in hopes of getting themselves back on track.
