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Alexa Philippou
BALTIMORE — The Indiana Fever knew it would be an adjustment playing their first game without Caitlin Clark since drafting the star point guard first overall in 2024.
But Game 1 sans Clark, who is out for at least two weeks because of a quad strain, was rockier than they’d hoped.
Indiana fell to 2-3 on the season with an 83-77 loss Wednesday to the Washington Mystics (3-3), who hosted the first WNBA game in Baltimore at CFG Bank Arena. The Mystics have moved four games to larger venues this season while D.C.’s Capital One Arena undergoes renovations, and will host the Fever again in “Charm City” in early September.
“I think this was a kind of gut punch for us,” Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said. “We’re going to come back tomorrow at practice with more focus, more energy. We know where we want to be at the end the season, but we’re not just going to get there.”
“We weren’t sharp enough to be a contender for anything tonight,” fellow guard Kelsey Mitchell added. “I think getting punched in the mouth early is humbling, because it shows where we need to be.”
The Fever — whose free agency moves catapulted them into early championship contention conversations — shot a paltry 39.7% from the floor and 23.8% from 3, both season-low marks, while finishing with more turnovers (16) than assists (15, another season low). Without Clark to push the pace, they managed zero fast-break points, typically a hallmark of their play.
Indiana averages 107.5 points per 100 possessions with Clark on the floor this season versus 87.7 points per 100 possessions with her off it.
Veteran point guard Sydney Colson started in place of Clark, finishing with 4 points, 3 assists and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes. DeWanna Bonner had her highest scoring output since joining the Fever this offseason with a team-best 21 points. Mitchell and Aliyah Boston, the team’s other two pillars and top scorers, largely struggled to get going, finishing 4-for-16 (14 points) and 4-for-5 (10 points), respectively.
Coach Stephanie White attributed the team’s offensive issues to a lack of execution going up against Washington’s physical defense.
“Feeling comfortable getting to our off-ball actions, that’s still a growth process for us,” White said. “You can see when physicality happens or defensive pressure picks up, we revert to some old habits, settling for one-on-one, settling for jump shots, settling for dribble handoffs, instead of trusting the process of moving the ball and of playing in some off-ball actions.”
Things weren’t much better defensively, which White maintained only compounded the issues on offense: Indiana allowed 48 points in the paint, struggled at times to slow down players without fouling and was often beaten back on defense for easy layups.
Washington was led by Brittney Sykes’ 21 points, to go along with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks, while rookie Kiki Iriafen added 16 points.
“I bet they got four to five layups just on our poor shot selection,” White said. “Those things have to get better, and they have to get better every game. And I feel like we’ve been a little bit stagnant in our growth area in those.”
Clark, who missed a regular-season game for the first time across her pro and collegiate careers, traveled with the team to Baltimore and sat next to the coaches on the bench to hear their feedback and instruction during the game. Prior to tipoff, she walked around with a camera snapping photos of her teammates warming up, held the toddler of assistant coaches Karima Christmas-Kelly and Austin Kelly, and spent time signing autographs for fans who’d come to see her.
The game was listed as a sellout (11,183), and though the stands did not end up full, the crowd was filled with fans of both the home squad and the increasingly popular visitors.
Clark, a first-team all-WNBA selection who came in fourth in MVP voting as a rookie, is on track to miss at least three more games, including Friday’s contest versus the winless Connecticut Sun and Tuesday’s rematch against Washington in Indiana. The Fever are hoping Clark’s absence serves as a growth opportunity for Clark from the sidelines and for the team as a whole as it learns to operate without her.
“I do think short term and long term it’s going to make us better,” Cunningham said.
