UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Erica Wheeler always knew Caitlin Clark’s arrival at the Indiana Fever would change things for the franchise, even if she wasn’t sure what it would entail or what the end result would be. She just knew the young superstar would make everything better.
“But did I think this would be it? No,” Wheeler said. “I think we’re all still thinking, ‘No, we’re not even supposed to be here. But we’re here.’”
“Here” is the Mohegan Sun, where the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2016 begins Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) against the No. 3-ranked Connecticut Sun. The Fever are darlings of the underdogs and should have a chance to pull off an upset in the best-of-three first-round format, despite opening the season here with a crushing loss that began a 1-9 start.
The two entries in the timeline couldn’t be further apart for Clark, Wheeler, and the Fever.
“Honestly, it feels like a completely different season since the first time we played here,” Clark said.
Clark will return to the arena as an MVP candidate, All-WNBA First Team candidate and presumptive Rookie of the Year after a discreet first of his professional careerIn reality, those accomplishments are an accomplishment for any rookie in any league, and certainly for a No. 1 pick playing for a franchise rebuilding after decades of missteps.
Still, Clark and the Fever have lived up to expectations and perhaps even exceeded them. No other offense in the league has been as healthy as the Fever’s since the All-Star/Olympic break, and few other players have been as prolific as Clark during that span.
“We got a taste of it early on,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “We weren’t able to get into it that quickly. But now with the work, the training and the Olympic break, we’re just trying to keep those good habits going. Because that’s the work, that’s what happened. That’s why we’re here, because of the work they put in.”
Since the disastrous start to May, Clark has improved her scoring output over the months, averaging 19.2 points per game, good for seventh in the league. Her numbers have been up since the break, and she leads the W in assists with 8.4 per game. That number is as much a credit to Clark, who makes those around her look good, as it is to the team’s improvement as a collective.
“We knew they were going to continue to get better,” Suns head coach Stephanie White said. “We knew they were going to get better at their reads. We knew they had all the pieces. And so for us, it’s just been their reads have been sharper, their shots have been open and since the break, they’ve been tough to score on.”
Every game against the Fever was a different, improved version of them, White said. Kelsey Mitchell, long the Fever’s lone offensive weapon, has become a dangerous backcourt player who doesn’t need to be the one carrying the load every night. Lexie Hull is sinking 3-pointers at a league-high pace while taking the same number of attempts as last season. And Aliyah Boston, last season’s rookie of the year, is seeing the most man coverage she’s seen “since maybe middle school,” White joked.
Week after week, sometimes game after game, records were being broken in Clark’s name. There were long-standing ones (season assists, season rating) and veterans too. She holds the WNBA record for assists in a game as well as assists in a season. She is already tied for fourth on the triple-doubles list. Her 12 triple-doubles are the most assists in a season of all time.
A record number of spectators watched the game across the country. Gainbridge Fieldhouse averaged 17,035 fans, a league record, according to Across the Timeline. The season finale in Washington, D.C., broke the regular-season attendance record. The television audience averaged in the millions. The WNBA has historically struggled to attract college fans to its game. But Clark is different.
“As far as Caitlin goes, that’s what she does. She breaks records,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think she’s looking to do that, I just think the nature of the game allows her to do that. And the style of play that we play allows her to do a lot of great things.”
That style has raised hopes of an upset to reach the semifinals. The Fever ranks first in pace among playoff teams (second in the regular season), a style that Suns veteran DeWanna Bonner marveled at after practice. It’s a goal of Connecticut’s game plan to get players (i.e. Clark) back early, disrupt them in transition and slow the ball down.
“It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. And we know that,” Bonner said.
The Suns have eclipsed the Fever in experience and minutes in the playoffs, a statistic Sides pointed to as his favorite to compare. The Suns’ starters have played 4,912 minutes of playoff basketball. The Fever’s starters have played none.
Sides isn’t sure if this is such a bad thing. The Fever enter a casino with the house money.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to come out here and show what we’re made of,” Clark said. “I think we’re a completely different team than the first two times we’ve been here. So I think that’s what’s exciting is we’ve changed a lot. We’ve proven a lot. Our confidence has gone up a lot.”
Like the expectations Clark lived with all year. She met them every time, from Iowa to Indiana.
