Indiana Fever eliminated from playoffs by Connecticut Sun

Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark

Alyssa Thomas had 19 points and 13 assists to help the host Connecticut Sun sweep Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever out of the playoffs with an 87-81 win Wednesday night. The Sun won the best-of-three first-round series 2-0, with both games played in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The loss prevents the Fever from returning home for a sold-out game Friday night in Indianapolis, where tickets on the secondary market were priced at hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The third-seeded Sun will now face either Minnesota or Phoenix in the semifinals, which begin Sunday.

Clark played much better in Game 2 than she did in her postseason debut Sunday. The AP Rookie of the Year finished with 25 points and nine assists, but it wasn’t enough. Aliyah Boston added 16 points and 19 rebounds.

Boston’s layup with 2:05 left gave Indiana a 77-75 advantage but DeWanna Bonner, who was playing in her WNBA record-matching 82nd playoff game to tie Lindsay Whalen, answered with a 3-pointer 14 seconds later.

Neither team scored on their next few possessions until Marina Mabrey hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 45.5 seconds left to give the Sun an 81-77 lead.

Kelsey Mitchell missed a 3 on the Fever’s next possession and the Sun sealed the game from the foul line.

Trailing by seven at the half, the Fever scored the first seven points of the third quarter to tie the game. The teams traded baskets until Lexie Hull’s layup gave the Fever a 48-47 lead midway through the period.

It was short lived as Thomas took over, scoring 10 points during a 14-4 run to close the quarter.

Clark brought the Fever back with her 3-pointer giving the team a 71-70 lead with 3:59 left and the teams traded baskets until Bonner’s 3.

Indiana got off to a fast start and was up 14-6 before the Sun scored the final 11 points of the first quarter to go up by three. With 1:29 left in the quarter after a foul, Clark pointed out a fan sitting in the second row to an official, who called security over and had the individual escorted to the back. The fan returned later and there were no further incidents.

The run continued to start the second as Connecticut went up 26-16 on Carrington’s layup with 7:32 left in the half. The Sun led 41-34 at the half. Carrington was honored before the game as the league’s Most Improved Player.

On the last play of the half, Erica Wheeler went in for a layup trying to beat the buzzer and went flying into the courtside photographers. She was down for a few minutes before getting up and walking back to the locker room. She had her left thumb looked at and didn’t return in the second half.

Clark finished the half with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Clark ends record-setting season

Clark did all she could to help the Indiana Fever stave off elimination. It just wasn’t enough.

Clark had a record-breaking season on and off the court. She broke the single-season assist record as well as setting the league’s individual game mark with 19. She also broke the rookie record for points in a season.

“I’m a tough grader. I feel like I had a solid year,” Clark said. “For me, the fun part is like I feel like I’m just scratching the surface and I’m the one that’s nit picking every single thing I do. I know I want to help this franchise. … I know there’s a lot of room for me to continue to improve so that’s what excites me the most. I feel like I continue to get a lot better.”

Now she’ll have some time to relax, recover and think about her year. With the exception of the Olympic break, Clark has little time to rest going straight from college to the WNBA draft to the pros.

“Basketball has consumed my life for a year. It will be good to reflect back on everything that happened,” Clark said. “I didn’t have time to reflect on my college career, it ended so fast. I gave everything to my team and helped this team get back to the playoffs. I feel like taking some time to myself and enjoying that and reflecting back.”

Indiana rebounded from a 1-8 start to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“It was special. A lot of things this group accomplished people that didn’t think was possible after the start we had to the season,” she said. “It will definitely be a little weird for the first couple weeks and then I’ll get bored and pick up a basketball again.”

Off the court, Clark and her fellow rookies have been a ratings and attendance boon for the WNBA. Despite the blowout loss in Game 1, fans tuned in as the game averaged 1.8 million viewers according to ESPN, making it the WNBA’s most watched playoff game since the 2000 Finals. It was the most watched playoff game on ESPN ever despite going up against the NFL.

Six different league television partners set viewership records this year for its highest viewed WNBA game. All of those games included the Fever.

Thanks to Clark, Indiana led the league in attendance both at home and on the road. The Fever averaged 17,036 at home and over 15,000 on the road. Four teams moved home games to bigger arenas when Indiana came to town to accommodate more fans.