Indiana’s season ended in Las Vegas on Thursday night. A’ja Wilson poured in 36 points and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Indiana Fever 94-83 in a winner-take-all Game 3 to advance to the WNBA semifinals. It is the second year in a row the Aces have knocked Indiana out of the playoffs.
The Fever’s star guard spent most of the postgame press conference biting her tongue. Then head coach Stephanie White read out the officiating line.
Las Vegas shot 35 free throws on 27 Fever fouls. Indiana took 20, on 19 fouls called against the Aces. When White said those numbers out loud, Clark offered a one-word reply.
“Hm, interesting.”
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She tilted her body, raised both eyebrows and looked out at the room. The sarcasm did the work. The league cannot fine her for the quote because the words themselves say nothing.
Blood, a no-call and no explanation
Clark had more concrete grievances than one line in the box score.
In the fourth quarter, Aces guard Jewell Loyd caught her in the face while they were tangled under the rim going for a rebound. Clark’s mouth bled. She showed the blood to the nearest official. No whistle came.
Asked afterward how to explain the sequence, Clark did not try.
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“Your guess would be as good as mine.”
The dry answer followed a complaint earlier in the series. In Game 2, which the Fever won 99-89, Clark fouled out with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter and pointed out the same imbalance: before the late free throws, Indiana was at 18 attempts to Las Vegas’s 34.
Wilson’s 36 and a semifinal spot
Wilson left no room for argument on the court. She finished with 36 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, shooting 11 of 18 from the field. Clark finished with 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including 3 of 12 from three. Eleven of her points came in the first quarter.
The Aces now wait for an opponent. Their semifinal opens on Sunday against the winner of Friday’s Game 3 between the second-seeded Golden State Valkyries and the seventh-seeded Dallas Wings. The other semifinal pairs the Atlanta Dream and the New York Liberty.
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