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Caitlin Clark on Fever's grueling schedule: 'There's no excuses'
Caitlin Clark dismissed fatigue as a factor as the Indiana Fever faced the Chicago Sky on the second night of a back-to-back. Despite injuries and a demanding schedule, Clark emphasized the team's opportunity to finish the road trip with a win.
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Clark's Message Amid a Grueling Stretch
As the Indiana Fever prepared to face the Chicago Sky on the second night of a back-to-back, Caitlin Clark offered a blunt assessment of the team's mindset. The Fever, playing their fifth game in eight days, were coming off a loss to the New York Liberty, but Clark framed the matchup as an opportunity rather than a burden.
"Chicago's playing really good basketball," Clark said during Saturday's postgame media availability. "I think for us, you have to look at it a positive way. We're coming off of a loss. It's a great opportunity for us to go and finish this road trip on a win. That's how I see it."
She added, dismissing fatigue as an excuse: "Yeah, everybody's tired, everybody's sore, who cares? Figure out a way to make yourself feel better and suit up and go play."
The Fever entered the game on a five-game road trip and had lost two straight, falling to fifth in the WNBA standings with six games left in the regular season. The team was also dealing with injuries, as Aliyah Boston was ruled out with a lower leg injury, Caitlin Clark was listed as probable with a back injury, and Myisha Hines-Allen was questionable with a right shoulder strain. Damiris Dantas had undergone season-ending knee surgery, and Mercedes Russell had been signed as an injury exception.
A Fierce Rivalry Renewed
The Sky, meanwhile, came into the contest on a three-game winning streak, carrying momentum into the third and final regular-season meeting between the two teams. Despite their recent success, Chicago faced a daunting challenge: they had lost eight straight games to the Fever.
The Fever had won both previous matchups this season. In a 114-106 overtime victory on June 11, Aliyah Boston posted 34 points and 12 rebounds, while Clark added 32 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists, and Kelsey Mitchell contributed 19 points. In the August 8 meeting, Clark and Mitchell led the way in a 90-86 win, with Clark recording 26 points and 11 assists, Mitchell adding 27 points and five rebounds, and Boston chipping in 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Toll of a Demanding Schedule
The Fever's schedule had been particularly unforgiving. The team was tied with the New York Liberty, Golden State Valkyries, and Las Vegas Aces for the most back-to-back games this season, and they were playing their fifth game in eight days against Chicago. The grueling stretch followed a loss to the Dallas Wings on August 20, where Indiana committed 14 turnovers, and a 109-102 defeat to New York, where they turned the ball over just nine times but missed 11 free throws and allowed 29 free-throw attempts.
"We've got to be better on the defensive end of the floor," head coach Stephanie White said after the New York loss. "We gave up 109 points tonight." She added: "When you score 102 points on the road against a championship team, your offense is not the problem. You can't miss 11 free throws and give up 109 points."
Clark finished the New York game with 21 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and one steal, taking a team-high 18 field goal attempts. Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 points on 15 shots, and Boston added 22 points. For the season, Clark averaged 7 points, 2 assists, 9 rebounds, and 9 steals per game over 34 games, and she was ranked third in com's MVP power rankings by Candace Pedraza, behind A'ja Wilson and Olivia Miles. Mitchell led the Fever offense with nearly 25 points per game.
For Chicago, Kamilla Cardoso led the team in points, rebounds, and blocks, averaging 14 points and eight rebounds per game. The game was scheduled to tip off at 6 m. CT on NBC.
How this outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
Framing: Emphasizes a strong statement from Caitlin Clark ahead of the game — Supportive and forward-looking: 'I'll just said: ... There's no excuses.'
Facts Included:
Caitlin Clark made a statement about the team's mindset ahead of the Chicago Sky game.
Clark said: 'Chicago's playing really good basketball... We're coming off of a loss. It's a great opportunity for us to go and finish this road trip on a win.'
The Fever are on a five-game road trip and second game of a back-to-back.
The Sky are on a three-game winning streak and have an eight-game losing streak to the Fever.
The Fever are on a two-game losing skid and have fallen to fifth in the WNBA standings.
Previous matchups: Fever won 114-106 in overtime on June 11 (Aliyah Boston 34 points, 12 rebounds; Clark 32 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists; Kelsey Mitchell 19 points) and 90-86 on August 8 (Clark 26 points, 11 assists; Mitchell 27 points, 5 rebounds; Boston 13 points, 11 rebounds).
Caitlin Clark is ranked third in MVP power rankings by WNBA.com's Candace Pedraza, behind A'ja Wilson and Olivia Miles.
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimCaitlin Clark said: "There's no excuses" regarding the Fever's tough schedule.
ClaimCaitlin Clark said: "Chicago's playing really good basketball... We're coming off of a loss. It's a great opportunity for us to go and finish this road trip on a win."
ClaimIn the June 11 game, Aliyah Boston scored 34 points and had 12 rebounds, Caitlin Clark scored 32 points with 7 rebounds and 10 assists, and Kelsey Mitchell added 19 points.
ClaimIn the August 8 game, Caitlin Clark had 26 points and 11 assists, Kelsey Mitchell had 27 points and 5 rebounds, and Aliyah Boston contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds.
ClaimThe Indiana Fever were tied with the New York Liberty, Golden State Valkyries, and Las Vegas Aces for the most back-to-back games this season (three).
ClaimStephanie White said: "When you score 102 points on the road against a championship team, your offense is not the problem. You can't miss 11 free throws and give up 109 points."