It was bound to flip at some point.
The Indiana Fever, with a roster built around two top-overall picks, were bound to win games and navigate the glaring growing pains that surfaced in the earliest moments of their 2024 season.
That’s what Caitlin Clark would help with.
Aliyah Boston, too.
The last time the Fever were at Barclays Center, they departed with an 11-point loss. Their record was 0-3, those defeats coming by a combined 68 points.
But when the Liberty host Indiana again Sunday night, with the spotlight surrounding Clark descending on Brooklyn, the Fever will enter off of their first home win of Clark’s tenure, their second victory of the season, and tangible evidence for growth after starting 1-8.
Since that second loss to the Liberty on May 18, the Fever have won twice and lost three other games by a combined 12 points.
Only two defeats have been by double digits.
And at the center of those developments has been Clark, who only shot 4-of-11 from the field in their win Saturday against the Chicago Sky — including 2-of-9 on 3-pointers — and finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists in their one-point victory.
It’ll still be about patience for the Fever but, this time, mixed with a tinge of optimism after the win to start their back-to-back.
It’ll be about Clark’s continuing a productive start to her WNBA career while still adjusting to the professional game.
She said earlier this week that she felt like she was “getting hammered” on the court, and the Sky’s Chennedy Carter bumped her to the ground Saturday in a sequence ahead of an inbounds pass following a basket that Clark described to ESPN as “not a basketball play.”
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Clark told reporters postgame Saturday, “but it’s just like, ‘Respond, calm down, and let your play do the talking.’ It is what it is.”
It took Clark until this season — through four years of Iowa and all of her youth basketball games before that — to play in New York City.
But when she did, the stands were filled with signs and fans waited pregame for Clark to sign autographs.
During introductions, she drew an audible cheer the likes of which most visiting players, other than former Liberty players returning to face their old team, wouldn’t receive.
After Betnijah Laney-Hamilton contained Clark and held her to just nine points in the Fever’s home opener May 16, Clark opened with 10 points in the first quarter and finished with 22 two days later — even pulling the Fever within single digits in the second half.
“We’re finding our way,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said May 18. “It’s a process. We’re finding our way.”
Clark’s second game in Brooklyn arrives just two weeks later, and now, the Liberty are trying to figure out their offense, too.
They are still shooting 43.8 percent from the field (fourth-best in the WNBA) but just 37 percent on 3-pointers — the second-worst percentage in the league despite the third-most shots from beyond the arc.
Breanna Stewart, the reigning WNBA MVP, has connected on 3s at just an 18.2 percent clip this season. Sabrina Ionescu’s percentage has dipped from 44.8 last season to 32.8 through eight games.
The Liberty have “uncharacteristically” missed shots, head coach Sandy Brondello said.
“We’re still trying to work it out, like most teams,” Brondello said, “but our offense is gonna be fine. We were one of the best offensive teams in the league last year until we had some struggles in the playoffs. … We’re gonna be just fine.”
That means Sunday will be about patience for the Liberty, too. They’ve faced different growing pains. But they’ll need to worry about stopping Clark again, too.