Caitlin Clark is the hottest name in basketball at the moment, and the new WNBA star’s early-season form isn’t enough to get the Indiana Fever winning matches. That appears to be taking its toll on the 22-year-old rookie, leading to frustrations boiling over.
During the Fever’s most recent loss – 88-82 at home to the Los Angeles Sparks – Clark found herself in trouble for getting a little too mouthy with the referee, leading to her being whistled.
In the fourth quarter of the loss to the Sparks, both Aliyah Boston and Clark were called for fouls on back-to-back possessions, which got under the skin of each of them. Boston pleaded her case after being called, while Clark raised her arms in disbelief when she was called up for going over an opposing screen.
“We’re spending too much time talking to the officials,” Christie Sides, Fever coach, said after the game when asked about Clark’s foul specifically.
“We’ve got to leave that alone. We’ve got to just play our game and let them do their job, and not put it in their hands to make decisions… that ultimately hurts… we shouldn’t get technicals… let me go after the officials.”
Clark herself expressed her frustration after some games this season as well, though did confess that some things will always be out of the control of the players. She had the following to say after her previous technical foul on May 20 against the Connecticut Sun: “And just the technical foul, probably can’t get that,” Clark said. “But a little frustration with how the game was ref’d. But it is what it is. That’s out of your control, you can’t really handle it. I thought our team put ourselves in position to make some plays to try to win down the stretch and the Sun always came up with big plays too.”
