Insult to injury: Caitlin Clark's elimination from playoffs after getting smacked in face in game one

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs on Wednesday night after a tough loss to the Connecticut Sun in round one of the WNBA playoffs.

Having lost in brutal fashion in game one, Clark and the Fever were able to put up a better fight in their second matchup, losing 81-87 with the Sun needing a late rally to take the win.

Game one didn't go as the Fever would have wanted, with the Sun comfortably beating them by 24 points in Connecticut. Let's take a look at how that game went.

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WNBA phenom Caitlin Clark's playoff debut was a struggle from start to finish as her Indiana Fever side was thrashed 93-69 by the Connecticut Sun. Clark wasn't at her best during the game, and to add insult to injury, the rookie also dealt with some physical punishment. All statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

It didn’t take long for Caitlin Clark to get her “welcome to the playoffs” moment. Not even two minutes into the game, Sun guard DiJonai Carrington poked Clark in the eye while the rookie jumped to make a pass. Clark went down, holding her face in pain. No foul was called on the play, and Clark did not miss any game action, but she was spotted with a black eye after the game.

While the play looked to be incidental, it is interesting that Carrington was involved in the sequence. She’s been an outspoken critic of Clark and Fever fans in general. Outkick’s website covered Carrington’s less than welcoming social media posts about the Fever. She posted in August, “The Indiana Fever have the nastiest fans in the W. Ew.”

As captured by the New York Post, Clark said, “Obviously, she got me pretty good in the eye. I don’t think it affected me… it’s a tough time for that to happen… it didn’t feel good when it happened but I don’t think it affected me.”

Clark could not find the range in her first playoff game. She scored 11 points on an abysmal 4-17 shooting. That included going 2-13 from three-point range. Clark did contribute eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Clark told USA Today after the game, “We were right there, I just felt like we played a crappy game.”

Clark continued, “The flow was really bad, I don’t know if that was the reffing, it was probably partly us because we struggled to get stops at times, but also the clock getting messed up, it was just one thing after the next.”

Sporting News touched on the game clock problems that were taking place at Mohegan Sun Arena during Game 1. They wrote that it was “not ideal for a Fever side that wants to push the ball in transition.”

The Fever have had a tough time keeping the Sun in check this season. Connecticut took three out of four games during the regular season, although two of those contests took place during the first week of the WNBA season. Indiana has played much better as the season has gone on, but was not up to the task in the second half of Game 1.

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Even though Clark couldn’t get it going in Game 1, she had been hopeful of turning things around in Game 2. She told Yahoo Sports, “Honestly, I felt like I got good shots, they just didn’t go down. I got some really good looks. I felt like I had two pretty wide-open threes in the first half that you usually make.”

Indiana has not played well in Connecticut this season, but Fever head coach Christie Sides is keeping her attention focused on the floor. “It’s not the building, it’s not the hoops. The Connecticut Sun are a really good team. A really good team with a lot of experience and they know what it takes to step onto that next level, that playoff level, and that’s what we’re going to be.”

In addition to finding her rhythm on the offensive end of the floor, Clark knew she had to play better defense. Marina Mabrey scored 27 points for Connecticut in Game 1, including five three pointers in the second half, which helped put the game out of reach. Game 2 saw the Sun score fewer points, with five players hitting double-digits showcasing their depth, which proved too much to handle for the Fever.

Clark told Yahoo Sports, “Obviously, Marina gets hot, and she’s a really good player. But you know, I had a few lapses on the defensive end where, as a shooter, once you see two in a row go in, the basket looks huge, so you can’t allow that.”

It seems like the Connecticut Sun’s entertainment staff had some fun during Game 1, perhaps in support of Carrington’s comments about the Fever. According to USA Today, the video board at Mohegan Sun arena showed a “bandwagon camera” that made fun of “loyal Fever fans since 2024.” The obvious quip there was that Indiana gained a lot of fans this season due to Clark’s arrival.

Clark led the WNBA in assists per game this season with 8.4, but Alyssa Thomas of the Sun came in second with 7.9. Thomas’ well-rounded skill set was on display in Game 1, as she finished with 12 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

Sun teammates DeWanna Bonner said of Thomas to ESPN, “Our team doesn’t go without her, honestly. We would be in this position each and every year. So I think she’s just getting started. The playoffs are her time, every year.” Despite a better performance in Game 2, the Fever were ultimately outclassed. Clark and her teammates will have learned from the experience and will be looking to take that forward into 2025.

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