News flash: Losing isn’t fun. Further bulletins as events warrant.
I know this isn’t exactly rocket science, but don’t tell that to the reporters covering the Indiana Fever, who just dropped their 12th game of the year. While the squad is one of the most watched in the WNBA — thanks to rookie sensation Caitlin Clark and last year’s WNBA Rookie of the Year, Aliyah Boston — it’s also been one of the streakiest.
After starting 0-5, the team crawled back to a respectable 7-10 before dropping their last two, including one to the Chicago Sky — a team that’s quickly becoming a Fever rival thanks in no small part to another rookie, Angel Reese, a Clark college rival who seems to have embraced the image of the “bad guy” of the league.
However, after a Thursday night loss in the Pacific Northwest to the Seattle Storm, one of the reporters seemed to have a Deep Thought™ on the Fever’s up-and-down season: Losing doesn’t look like it’s a blast.
“You guys don’t look like you’re having a lot of fun,” a reporter asked Boston and Clark as they met with the media Thursday night following the 89-77 loss.
“You guys look pretty frustrated. How do you make sure that, as you continue to get to know each other — like you said, you’re a young group, you’re new, you’re all new to each other — that you don’t let frustration like that overtake you in games?”
A great moment for sports media, ladies and gentlemen.
You almost wish that Jim “Playoffs?!” Mora — the former New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts head coach not known to suffer media stupidity — was present with this Indianapolis-based team for that one, but if Clark handled it with less disdain than he would have, she made the obvious, well, obvious.
“We want to win more than anybody,” Clark said. “This is our job. Our job is to compete every single day. Nobody enjoys losing. It’s not fun to lose.
Do you like Caitlin Clark?
“We have lost 12 games and we’re not even at the halfway point of our season yet,” she continued.
“We are trying to give it our all and be able to win every single night. We expect to win.”
The loss left the Fever in the No. 9 position in the WNBA standings; the top 8 teams advance to the postseason, something the Fever seemed headed for after a four-game winning streak last week.
While the season is still young, it’s not that young, and Fever coach Christie Sides said that the former University of Iowa star needs to take more shots for the team to be successful.
“Caitlin Clark needs to shoot a minimum of 15 shots a game for us,” Sides told reporters, according to UPI.
“She’s gotta get shots. We’ve gotta do a better job of setting her up and setting some really good screens to get her open.”
While Clark is averaging 16.2 points per game — the best in the league for rookies — and is the odds-on favorite for Rookie of the Year honors over Reese, she’s currently averaging 12.2 shots per game.
That’s 22nd most in the WNBA — perhaps not bad for a rookie, but also not what the Fever need to win games, particularly given the fact that Clark’s outside game is considered the deadliest part of her skill set.
“I could definitely be a little bit more aggressive to the basket, but I think I’m going to try to take what the defense gives me and try to set my teammates up for success, too,” Clark said.
But, yes. Winning is fun. Losing isn’t fun. You look frustrated when losing. Very critical insight from the media covering the WNBA beat.
