CHRISTIE SIDES' BLUNT MESSAGE TO INDIANA FEVER AFTER WNBA PLAYOFFS BERTH

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have secured their fifth consecutive win after a 93-86 battle with the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, September 4, but this game could have been much more important than it was.

Just one day before, the Chicago Sky were defeated by the Las Vegas Aces 90-71, and the Atlanta Dream lost to the Phoenix Mercury 74-66. With both the Sky and Dream losing, the Fever officially clinched their first WNBA Playoffs berth since 2016.

Had one of Chicago or Atlanta won, Indiana would have secured their postseason spot with the win over Los Angeles.

Prior to Wednesday's game, Fever head coach Christie Sides gave a locker room speech to her team about securing a spot in the postseason, highlighting the main thing she wants to see from her team down the stretch.

"We're here," Sides said. "There's nothing to prove. The only thing we have to do now is keep improving for the big picture for what we want to do."

The remainder of the video posted on X by the official Indiana Fever account included highlights from the win over LA and the exact moment Clark secured the second triple-double of her rookie season.

Sides is coming off the best month of her Indiana coaching tenure, going 5-1 in August and winning her first Coach of the Month award. Clark also dominated August with two Player of the Week awards and Player of the Month honors.

The Fever have six games remaining in the regular season. They will be fighting for a better seed in the playoffs during the final stretch. As of Wednesday night, Indiana owns the sixth seed.

2024-09-05T11:51:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd