Caitlin Clark scored enough to keep the Indiana Fever in the game against the Atlanta Dream, but Swin Cash still saw a warning sign in how Indiana’s offense functioned around its biggest star.
The Fever’s 108-101 loss to Atlanta on June 18 wasn’t a night when Clark disappeared. She finished with 26 points and seven assists, while Kelsey Mitchell also scored 26 as Indiana again showed it has enough firepower to compete with the WNBA’s better teams.
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The problem was that the Fever couldn’t stop the Dream often enough to turn their offense into a win.
Cash, a three-time WNBA champion and four-time All-Star, focused on how Atlanta guarded Clark and how that pressure affected Indiana’s spacing and ball movement.
“They kept a fresh body on Caitlin at all times. Well, Caitlin had 26 points, right? All of her baskets, she had somebody right there. It was rare that we just shot an open shot. And so, they were applying pressure all day long,” Cash said.
“But the Fever, sometimes when you get into a situation where the ball stays in her hands a little bit longer, there are stretches where other players aren’t getting any touches,” Cash added.
Cash’s point lands in sensitive place
Cash’s comment touched one of the most debated parts of Indiana’s season. Clark isn’t just the Fever’s most dangerous scorer. She’s also their primary creator, the player most responsible for bending defenses and generating opportunities for teammates.
That makes the criticism complicated. When Clark has the ball, Indiana often looks most dangerous. When she doesn’t, the Fever still need enough movement, screening and secondary decision making to stop opponents from loading up on her.
The backlash from Clark supporters came quickly because the comment sounded, to some, like blame being placed on the one player consistently creating pressure. Clark’s assist numbers push against the idea that she is simply dominating the ball for her own offense.
Yet Cash’s broader point was about balance. Against a Dream team that kept rotating defenders onto Clark, Indiana needed more ways to punish that attention without every possession becoming a test of Clark’s shotmaking or passing.
Fever’s bigger concern remains defense
The bigger issue for Indiana, though, isn’t whether it can score. The Fever are averaging 92.2 points per game, one of the strongest offensive marks in the league, and they still put up 101 against Atlanta.
The concern is at the other end. Indiana is allowing 88.1 points per game, and its frequent fouling can slow down games that the Fever prefer to play at speed. When opponents get to the line, the pace drops, transition chances disappear and Clark has to work harder against set defenses.
That’s why the Atlanta loss felt less like an indictment of Clark’s usage and more like a reminder of Indiana’s margin for error. Clark and Mitchell gave the Fever enough offense. The stops never came consistently enough.
Indiana’s path forward isn’t as simple as taking the ball out of Clark’s hands. The Fever need enough balance to keep defenses honest, and enough defense to make Clark’s creation matter.