Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever dropped a 99-88 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Friday in what could be a playoff preview. Clark had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists but lamented how the team handled the third quarter when they were out-scored 29-12.
The Fever are now 18-17 and sixth in the WNBA playoffs picture (top eight make it).
Fever score: Fever lose their composure — and the game — in third quarter, falling to Lynx 99-88
Here’s what Clark said following Friday night’s loss:
On how she and the team played in the third quarter:
I thought I got fouled a couple times during the second half on jump shots. It happens. Sometimes they get called. Sometimes they don’t. I felt I settled too much for my jump shot. I felt I got bumped. I was shot-faking to get them to foul me. I could have done a better job controlling my emotions but it started bad and continued to snowball and that’s something we have to control better. It’s just a good learning opportunity for us. There’s a line and sometimes your passion, your emotion can get to you but it’s not something I would ever change or anybody on our team would change.
On getting out-scored 29-12 in the third quarter:
We just kind of (needed to) reset. It felt like, from my standpoint, the third quarter got away from us. I looked at the clock and there was only two minutes left on the clock and we’d scored eight points. (I wanted to) get a quick breather and find a way to have a big fourth quarter.
It starts defensively. It’s hard to win a game when they out-score you by 17 points in a quarter. It’s impressive we got it back to 1 point (in the fourth quarter). I thought we played really good in the fourth. My turnover in transition ended the momentum for us. It was 78-77, I got in transition and honestly made a really bad read (resulting in a turnover).
On what it’s like playing the Minnesota Lynx:
They’re the hardest team to guard. Their movement is incredible. It’s how basketball should be played. Our matchup is great for basketball. You want to watch two teams that play the right way, play uptempo, share the ball, it’s not sets all the time. They run great action. Space the floor. It’s hard to guard. (Napheesa Collier) demands so much attention. You’re guarding three 3-point shooters with two people. There’s only so much you can do and (Bridget) Carlton makes us pay. We gave up 34 points in the paint. This is a team that loves the 3-point line. We’ve got to make them shoot more 3s or guard the paint better. But we need to score in the paint more. We have to beat them in points in the paint.
