Caitlin Clark WNBA Playoffs Preview: Fever vs. Sun
Superstar rookie Caitlin Clark has taken the Indiana Fever from WNBA bottom dwellers to a team on the rise. Clark helped lead the Fever to the WNBA Playoffs in her first year in the league — an impressive feat — and she’ll make her playoff debut on Sunday.
After getting off to a rocky 3-10 start to the season, Indiana finished off strong by going 17-10 and finishing .500, and earning the sixth seed. Clark and the Fever will face the third-seeded Connecticut Sun in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs.
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Fever vs. Sun: Caitlin Clark Playoffs Schedule & TV
Caitlin Clark Playoffs Schedule: Fever vs. Sun
- Game 1: 3 p.m. ET, Sunday, September 22, 2024 — ABC
- Game 2: 7:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, September 25, 2024 — ESPN
- Game 3: TBD, Friday, September 27, 2024 (if necessary) — ESPN2
The first two games of the series will be played at Mohegan Sun Arena, in Uncasville, Conn. If Clark and the Fever forced a Game 3, it will be played on the Fever’s home court — Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
Fever vs. Sun: Regular Season Recap
These two teams had contrasting starts to the season.
As mentioned earlier, the Fever started 3-10 while the Sun opened up the season 9-0. The Sun still finished with a better record overall, 28-12 to 20-20 for Indiana, but the teams were about the same from that point on. The Sun closed 19-12 to the Fever’s 17-10 as Clark and her teammates found their groove to get into the playoffs.
Fever vs. Sun WNBA Playoffs Analysis
No. 3 Connecticut Sun Preview
The Sun won the season series 3-1 over the Fever. Three of those matchups were played early in the season when Indiana played 13 games in 27 days. Connecticut is one of the best defensive teams in the WNBA, allowing the least amount of points and the second least assists per game.
Their backcourt of Dijonai Carrington and Alyssa Thomas are a defensive nightmare for guards to deal with hence why Clark has struggled against them all year.
They added Marina Mabrey before the trade deadline to try and improve their three-point shooting which sits at second-bottom of the league at 5.9 3s made per game.
The Sun played last playoffs without center Brionna Jones, so having her back this year will be a huge boost for them.
The X-Factor of this series will come down to DeWanna Bonner. Bonner has struggled mightily to score in her last 10 games, only hitting her PrizePicks projection of 14.5 points twice in that span. Bonner is one of the better scorers on the team for the Sun, so if she fails to put up points, Connecticut could be in trouble.
No. 6 Indiana Fever Preview
With Connecticut’s stifling backcourt, the Fever will need to look to other players outside of Clark for big contributions to pull off the upset in this series.
The likes of Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, and NaLyssa Smith will have to have strong games if the Sun continue to force the ball out of Clark’s hands as they did in the regular season matchups.
The Fever made over 9 3-pointers a game this year, so outscoring Connecticut by a large margin from distance will be their biggest leg up in this series.
Caitlin Clark Stats vs Connecticut Sun
Clark faced the Connecticut Sun four times in her rookie season. While she put up some clutch scoring performances, the Sun, she struggled in the assists category. Here are her stat lines from those four games vs the Sun.
- May 14: 20 points, 3 assists, 0 rebounds, 4-of-11 3-pointers
- May 20: 27 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 3-of-7 3-pointers
- June 10: 10 points, 2 assists, 0 rebounds, 2-of-5 3-pointers
- August 28: 19 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3-of-12 3-pointers
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