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Caitlin Clark Completely Fell Apart at the Worst Time for the Fever

Andy Nesbitt|
Caitlin Clark and the Fever lost to the Aces, 86-84, in overtime on Thursday night.
Caitlin Clark and the Fever lost to the Aces, 86-84, in overtime on Thursday night. | Andy Lyons/Getty Images

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Indiana FeverLas Vegas Aces

The Indiana Fever lost at home to the Las Vegas Aces, 86-84, in an overtime thriller on Thursday night, and after the game there was one person who took the blame for the brutal defeat—Caitlin Clark.

Clark had a couple of chances down the stretch to lead her team to a victory, and both times she came up short in stunning fashion.

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The first came with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Fever had a three-point lead when Clark went to the free-throw line. If she made one of her two shots, the game likely would have been over. Instead, she missed both and then the Aces tied it up on Chelsea Gray’s three-pointer with just under a second left.

Here are those missed free throws:

And here’s Gray’s game-tying three-pointer:

Then with under 20 seconds left in overtime and the Fever up by a point, Clark got matched up with A’ja Wilson and it didn’t go well for her. The four-time WNBA MVP forced a turnover, Clark’s eighth of the game, and the Aces then won it on Gray’s three-pointer at the buzzer.

Here’s how that played out:

Those are two brutal moments for Clark, who finished the game with 20 points but shot just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.

What Caitlin Clark had to say after the loss

Clark didn’t shy away from the media after the painful loss. She spoke about her key misses at the line that could have iced the game for the Fever, saying those are shots she has to make for her team.

“That just can’t happen,” Clark said, per the Indianapolis Star. “Those are free throws I usually make, and certainly frustrating. Obviously, one of them gives us a two-possession lead, and kind of cost my team there for sure. So, that’s on me.”

Making things worse for the Fever is that they led the Aces by 20 points in the second quarter and then gave the game away down the stretch.

“We just let them back in the game,” Clark said. “They’re a talented team. They were never going to just go away. That was never going to be the case. But, for us, we got to find ways to be a little bit better.”

Caitlin Clark did have some big moments earlier in the game

It wasn’t all bad for Clark on Thursday night. She had the home crowd rocking in the fourth quarter when she hit a deep three-pointer to give the Fever a one-point lead.

And then she later hit another clutch three-pointer to give the Fever the lead again in the closing the minutes.

But those missed free throws and the turnover in overtime will be what she remembers the most from what could have been a huge victory for the Fever.

What’s next for the Fever and Aces

The loss drops the Fever to 19-12 on the season. They will look to rebound this Saturday when they face the Sky in Chicago.

The Aces, meanwhile, improved to 22-9, and will play the Lynx on Saturday in what will be a showdown between the top two teams in the WNBA.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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