A'ja Wilson, forward for the Las Vegas Aces, made 12 of her 36 points from free throws in Game 3. As the Aces won 94-83 and ended the Fever's season, Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever guard, paid close attention.

The reaction occurred in Las Vegas at the post-game press conference. Fever head coach Stephanie White highlighted that while Indiana shot 20 free throws, the Aces managed to shoot 35 free throws, and an irked Clark, sitting next to White, responded with just two words.

 "Hmm, interesting," Clark said.

Wilson managed to score 12 of her 36 points on free throws, while Clark was seen bleeding from her mouth from a second-half hit that did not result in a foul despite her showing the referee. Clark also had five fouls in her 36 minutes on the court.

This frustration came through when Clark was questioned by reporters in the post-game press conference about the reason for the lack of a foul on the play that saw her bleeding.

"Your guess would be as good as mine," Clark said.

This failure to call a foul was part of a larger trend during a match in which the physical line kept changing. Neither team could establish a defensive rhythm. Clark showed the referee that she had blood on her mouth, but no foul was called.

Clark explained the replay stakes in her postgame press conference. 

"If the challenge at whatever point that was, with two minutes to go, is called correctly when they go to the monitor, it's a one-possession game, and we have the ball," she said."

Indiana found themselves trailing 82-80 with less than two minutes left when Mitchell failed to score from her layup, got her own rebound, but was fouled again while trying to score.

Indiana argued against the call, but it stood and resulted in the Aces winning by 11. 

The sequence played a key role as Indiana survived a shooting drought, missing the next 10 shots after tying the game at 42 in the second quarter, while still keeping the game within reach.

Apart from the officiating, Clark provided some insight into how her season went overall.

Caitlin Clark Details Heaviest Workload of Her Career

Clark's poor shooting performance came in the wake of an offseason with very little rest, and that much was evident when she commented on her season. Clark elaborated on the matter during her postgame interview.

 "This is like obviously the most basketball I've played at any year of my career," she said, adding, "I didn't take a break when our season ended last year."

Clark then looked at the performance side of that long stretch.

 "I was able to come out here and put together the best season I've had and perform at a really high level and basically get better in every area," she said.

Clark put up an average of 20 points, 9.7 assists, and 4 rebounds in the playoffs, but shot lower than her season numbers from the field and beyond the arc.

She sat out the previous playoffs due to injury, and this has been just her second-ever postseason appearance, following an opening-round exit last year in 2024.

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta