Caitlin Clark Gives Her Thoughts on Pacers' Ability to Win Title After Game 4 Loss

The Thunder evened the series at 2-2 Friday night.
Caitlin Clark attends the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Caitlin Clark attends the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Caitlin Clark isn't wavering in her confidence of the Indiana Pacers' chances to bring home the NBA title, even after the team's loss in Game 4 at home Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder to even the series at two games apiece.

The Indiana Fever superstar is slated to return to the lineup after a three-week, five-game absence due to a left quad strain. A night ahead of her return against the New York Liberty in a Saturday matinee at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, she couldn't miss Friday's Game 4 in the same arena before the NBA Finals went back to Oklahoma—although she did leave early to prepare and get some rest ahead of her own game.

The Pacers suffered a 111-104 loss as their offense stagnated in the fourth quarter while NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored in bunches for the Thunder. Although Indiana missed what felt like a golden opportunity to take a 3-1 series lead, Clark still thinks they have a good chance to pull out the series.

"It was a great game—fun game for the Pacers. I still feel very confident in their ability to win it all," Clark said ahead of her return to the court Saturday. "That's what makes this Finals so fun. When teams go and steal one on the road, we stole one there and they stole one here, so now we got to go and steal one there essentially to win it all, which I think, obviously, we've already proven we're capable of and we're going to do just that."

Clark is averaging 19 points, 9.3 assists and six rebounds per game in four appearances for the Fever this season before the quad injury. The Fever went 2-3 over her absence.

The NBA Finals' 2-2 tie will be broken Monday in Oklahoma City when the Thunder and Pacers will meet for Game 5. Like Clark mentioned, the Pacers need to win at least one more game on the road to win the series and the franchise's first NBA title. With their postseason heroics, you can never count the cardiac Pacers out—Clark sure isn't.


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Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.