The Indiana Fever surprised the Atlanta Dream within the winner-take-all Sport 3 of their first-round collection on Thursday to advance to the semifinals for the primary time since 2015. There, they’ll tackle A’ja Wilson and the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces, who snuck previous the Seattle Storm in Sport 3 of their matchup. Sport 1 is Sunday.
Fever star Caitlin Clark, nonetheless, is not going to be in motion for Sport 1 in Las Vegas or at any level within the collection. The second-year star is ineligible to return within the playoffs this yr no matter how far the Fever go.
Even when Clark have been to be deemed absolutely wholesome by the staff’s medical workers in some unspecified time in the future whereas the Fever are nonetheless alive within the postseason, she was left off the staff’s energetic roster for the playoffs, a league supply confirmed to CBS Sports activities. The Indy Star first reported that Clark was not on the energetic playoff roster.
Clark handled a collection of lower-body accidents this season — left quad, left groin, proper groin and left ankle — which restricted her to 13 appearances and compelled her to overlook each the Commissioner’s Cup championship and All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. She final performed on July 15, and although the staff gave her each alternative to recuperate, she finally ran out of time. On Sept. 5, she introduced that she wouldn’t return to play.
Caitlin Clark’s injury-plagued sophomore season was a catastrophe for the WNBA, the Fever and herself
Jack Maloney
“I had hoped to share a better update, but I will not be returning to play this season,” Clark wrote on social media. “I spent hours within the health club day by day with the singular aim of getting again on the market, upset isn’t a sufficiently big phrase to explain how I’m feeling.
“I want to thank everyone who had my back through all the uncertainty. This has been incredibly frustrating, but even in the bad, there is good. The way the fans continued to show up for me, and for the Fever, brought me so much joy and important perspective. I am so proud of how this team has only gotten stronger through adversity this year. Now it’s time to close out the season and claim our spot in the playoffs.”
Even when Clark was on the ground, she was not 100% and infrequently regarded like herself. Although she nonetheless averaged 16.5 factors, 5 rebounds and eight.8 assists, she shot simply 36.7% from the sector, together with 27.9% from 3-point vary. Notably, she had three video games and not using a made 3, snapping a 140-game streak relationship again to her sophomore season at Iowa, and shot 2 of 35 from 3 on the street.
Whereas the Fever had championship expectations coming into the season, nobody anticipated them to be one of many final 4 groups standing after they misplaced 5 gamers, together with Clark, to season-ending accidents. Chloe Bibby (knee), Sydney Colson (torn ACL), Sophie Cunningham (torn MCL) and Aari McDonald (damaged foot) all additionally went down over the previous few months.
