Iowa's Caitlin Clark Leads Fever Past Dream After Turbulent Week
The former Iowa Hawkeyes star and her Indiana Fever teammates spent the early part of this week navigating a heated sideline exchange, a lengthy team meeting, and questions about their early-season defensive struggles. By Thursday night, the 2025 Commissioner's Cup champions started turning the page.
From the pregame huddle to Clark's chest bump of coach Stephanie White during a third-quarter stoppage, the Fever looked unified and determined as they opened their Cup title defense with an 83-71 victory over the Atlanta Dream.
Clark Reflects and Responds
Plenty of people reached out to check on Clark after the publicized drama. Her response was simple.
A lot of people have called and asked me how I am, and I said, 'What do you mean? I'm great.' I think a lot of self-reflection from everybody (this week), like look yourself in the mirror and find ways to get better. That's certainly what I did.
Clark's stat line did not look like her typical sharpshooting night. She went 6 of 17 from the field and 2 of 8 from three-point range on a night when she vomited at halftime. Still, she finished with 17 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and only three turnovers in 31 minutes while playing noticeably better defense.
The performance earned praise from White, just days after the two had a visible spat on the sideline during a game in Portland.
She was gassed, she was making plays on both ends and she was doing a great job. She was running the team and, you know, when you lay it all on the line, you get gassed.
Defense Fuels the Turnaround
The rare five-day break between games gave Indiana's players and coaches a chance to drill down and fix what was broken just in time to start their Cup title defense. Indiana came into the game allowing 89 points per game, the third most in the league.
Against the Dream, the Fever swarmed shooters and harassed ball handlers all night. Atlanta shot just 34% from the field and 29% from beyond the arc. The Dream committed 11 turnovers, lost the rebounding battle 35-30, and watched Indiana deliver two key blocks during a 16-3 third-quarter run that put the game out of reach.
White described the defensive effort as the expected standard. Clark put it another way.
The way we played as a team was great, and we've got to keep doing that. This group is connected. We hadn't been playing our best basketball, and even though we played it for one game tonight that doesn't mean we are where we want to be. But it also shows what we're capable of and what we can do, and I think it spoke a lot to the character of the people we have on the team.
Iowa Fans Show Up Strong
When the Fever re-emerged at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday, one thing had not changed. Atlanta forward Angel Reese, Clark's college rival, was greeted with boos. Clark, the former Iowa sensation, received resounding cheers during player introductions.
Atlanta coach Karl Smesko was the least surprised person in the building. He predicted the Fever would come out with a renewed edge.
I have a feeling we're not going to play the same team that played the game a few days ago. You have time to get together, regroup. I'm sure they're motivated to play their best basketball right now, so I think we have to be ready to play the best version of Indiana, which is one of the best teams in the league.
Hard Conversations Pay Off
All-Stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston said they expected this kind of performance, especially after having so many days to make corrections. Indiana visits New York on Saturday.
From our last day in Portland, from the time we hopped on the plane as a group, our energy shifted. I think when you have hard conversations as a group, you pour into one another, you get days like this because you did the work the right way. For us, it was about using this week for the right stuff.