On July 10, the Indiana Fever suffered a loss against the 6-17 Washington Mystics, dropping them to 9-14 on the season.
The Fever’s head coach, Christie Sides, came under heavy fire following the game against Washington for her lineup selections and late-game decisions. For a significant part of the season, Fever supporters have been calling for her termination; however, after losing to Washington, those shouts became louder.
With 29 points, 13 assists, and five rebounds in her impressive performance versus Washington, Fever star Caitlin Clark was a standout player. Clark was also a proficient 3-point shooter, going 5-for-9 during the contest.
Many fans questioned why, in the closing seconds of the game, Sides decided to write up a play for Kelsey Mitchell—who had gone 0-for-8 from distance—instead of Clark, given how effectively Clark had performed throughout.
With 16 seconds remaining, a fan on X said, “Christie Sides decided to draw up a play where she wouldn’t touch the ball after watching Caitlin Clark drop 29.”
It would be an understatement to suggest that Sides’ choice to deny Clark the ball at the end of the game infuriated the crowd.
Christie Sides, Caitlin Clark’s coach, is the only person who can stop her. She hasn’t even touched the ball in at least three occasions when the game has come down to a last shot. Horrible coaching,” a fan wrote about X.
It was especially upsetting to lose to the bottom-of-the-table Mystics 89-84, especially since they had just defeated the top-seeded New York Liberty 89-84 on July 6.
Owen Siebring of Iowa’s News Now stated on X that “the Fever won their most remarkable win of the season on Saturday, and now they follow it with their most embarrassing loss of the season.” You have to acquire these victories against the worst clubs in the league if they hope to make the playoffs.
One fan commented on X, “I’d fire Christian Sides after this game. How you let the Mystics seem like a top 5 squad out there is beyond me.” “I feel embarrassed about this.”
Sides failed to impress even supporters of opposing teams:
