Indiana Fever’s Season Finale Ends in Disappointment

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever faced a tough end to their regular season on Thursday night. The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx delivered a decisive 86-66 defeat, leaving Fever supporters disappointed while keeping an eye on playoff seeding implications.

This loss means the Fever now have to face the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces, who are led by likely MVP A’ja Wilson. Had Indiana pulled off a win, they would have matched up against the Atlanta Dream instead.

Just earlier this week, the Fever managed to upset the Lynx at home, even giving Minnesota its biggest deficit of the season at one point. What a difference a few days can make.

During the rematch, Minnesota completely stifled any momentum the Fever had, restricting Clark to a career-low two points on only one successful shot from twelve attempts, with a particularly rough first half where she scored just one point.

The Fever went into halftime down a whopping 62-32. Minnesota’s roster was missing rookie standout Olivia Miles, who sat out due to a calf injury.

On Tuesday, the Lynx had rested their starters for a large part of the second half, perhaps expecting to carry that momentum into this game. Although it seemed Indiana followed that strategy with their own players, limiting Clark’s playtime. It was an off night for Sophie Cunningham as well, who didn’t score at all in her 16 minutes on the court.

Clark was on the verge of making WNBA history, approaching the remarkable feat of 900 points and 300 assists in a single season, needing just 11 points to hit that milestone. Unfortunately, her final stat line was two points, three assists, and four rebounds.

The Fever didn’t just struggle with their scoring; they also faced injury setbacks. Starting center Aliyah Boston was ruled out with a right lower leg injury, and guard Ty Harris had to be carried off the court.

However, amid the gloom, there was a silver lining for Indiana. Kelsey Mitchell set the single-season record for three-pointers, nailing her 135th shot to surpass Rhyne Howard’s previous record of 134. Despite that achievement, Mitchell’s scoring was modest, with just ten points on the night, breaking her streak of 27 consecutive games with over 20 points. Indiana finished the regular season with a record of 28-15.

The WNBA playoffs are set to commence this Sunday.