In the Indiana Fever’s first regular-season game, everyone was happy with their defensive improvement. Yet, it took just one game to bring those perceptions to the ground with grumpy faces and make the HC Stephanie White say, “It’s tough.” Well, understandable. The game against the Dream left Caitlin Clark and company just one point shy of a comeback story that they kept building over and over again throughout the game. They’d clawed back from a double-digit deficit more than once, only to fall short at the buzzer. The margin was razor-thin, but that’s exactly where the team needs to go in with their brushes to clean up.
After the game, it was clear how cleanliness, in this case, came down to the nitty-gritty details—those little things that turn good teams into great ones. White had emphasized the importance of attention to detail in training, and let’s just say… the Fever may have left a few of those details back at practice. Throughout the game, small lapses piled up like laundry.
This was Indiana’s fourth loss in their last five matchups with the Dream—and it might be the one that sends them back to the whiteboard, and probably the film room. In the postgame presser, White didn’t sugarcoat it. She called out her squad’s mental lapses and spotlighted one particularly pesky issue that could turn into an uninvited guest for the rest of the season if not taken care of.
“We didn’t handle their physicality. I mean, that’s going to be the ammo against us all year long.” White said about the game, “Teams are going to be physical. They’re going to push us., they’re going to shove us, they’re going to hold us. They’re going to do whatever they’re allowed to get away with. And we have to figure out how to use that physicality against them.”
Well, the Fever had a tough time guarding the perimeter, letting the Dream get way too comfortable from beyond the arc. Atlanta let it fly 30 times for 3-pointers—almost double Indiana’s 17 attempts. Add in a handful of sloppy turnovers, and the Dream happily turned those mistakes into 20 easy points. Even with all the hiccups on both ends of the floor, the Fever still had a shot at pulling out a win. But the free-throw line also didn’t do them any favors. “We got there 26 times and missed 10,” Caitlin Clark said after the game, clearly frustrated. “That’s the game right there”.
final. pic.twitter.com/76KR4uWK04
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 21, 2025
Addressing the issue, White further said, “I felt like we let them move the ball wherever they wanted to. We had a lot of breakdowns in our coverages. We weren’t really helping one another out. We played like five individuals defensively at times instead of collectively as a unit.” The Atlanta forwards took advantage of the spaces available, scoring baskets at will. Britney Griner scored 21 points while Brionna Jones had 19 points along with 13 rebounds.
“I thought they use their two bigs well.” CC then analyzed the game, “I thought we didn’t really try to attack them in the half court. If they’re going to play two bigs, we have to find ways to exploit that a little bit more.” But, if we have to be honest, Fever’s trio of Clark, Boston, and Mitchell did mostly well throughout the game. Where things went awry was that they didn’t receive any help from their teammates. Besides them, no other player scored more than six points. That says a lot, doesn’t it?
With a game decided by a single point, it hurts more when you think that the entire team could not come together as efficiently while one of them was breaking records.
Caitlin Clark rewrote history with four new records during the Fever vs Dream game
It was Caitlin Clark’s individual brilliance that kept the Indiana Fever in the hunt for the win. The Indiana Fever star scored 27 points and dished out 11 assists. This was her ninth game with 20+ points and 10+ assists, the most in WNBA history. Chicago Sky’s new addition, Courtney Vandersloot, also has nine games with similar stats and took 394 games for the same. CC did it in just 42 games.
Just a notch up, Clark’s 27-point production puts her level with Sabrina Ionescu for 25+ points and 10+ assists games in the regular season. Both stars now have six games with the said statline, and not to mention, CC was the fastest one to do so. After breaking 62 records in her rookie season, Clark is again rewriting history right from the 2025 W season’s tipoff.
Speaking of tipoff, adding today’s numbers to the 20 points and 10 assists performance on the opening night, Caitlin Clark became the first player to open the WNBA season with back-to-back 20 points and 10 assists. Caitlin Clark 2.0 is clearly on a mission, putting up huge numbers on the floor. And it’s not just scoring.
With 5 rebounds, two steals, and five made three-pointers, Caitlin Clark also became the first player to have multiple games with 25+ points, 10+ assists, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ made threes. If we add her triple-double performance, CC already has five individual records in just two games in the 2025 WNBA season. Yet, knowing Caitlin, she won’t be satisfied with personal glory and will try to win for the team. She will have her chance to avenge today’s loss against Dream as both sides will face each other in just two days at State Farm Arena.
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