Fever 88, Sun 71: It's not about heart, and poor Jacy Sheldon

 Well, it wasn’t boring anyway, huh?

I had the local feed Tuesday night, so at least on NBC Sports Boston, a lot of the discussion pregame was about the Sun being able to show more heart and guts to turn their fortunes around this season.

But I hate to break it to you, and as Tuesday’s 88-71 loss to Indiana showed clearly, that ain’t it.

Connecticut battled (sometimes quite literally) from the opening tip, had a pretty good gameplan to keep Caitlin Clark contained as much as possible, and had their best offensive first quarter of the season, one that saw them get inside at will.

But, in the end, Clark (and Lexie Hull, more on that later) was just too good, the Sun shot 3-for-21 from behind the arc, and were second best against one of the top teams in the WNBA. Did they make plenty of mistakes? Sure, but it was probably a better effort than Sunday and certainly improved from their last two road blowouts to Washington and New York.

If that seems discouraging, it sure is, especially when you look at the upcoming schedule (which includes a west coast trip next week), but I didn’t start this blog to sugarcoat things for you. I want the Sun to do well and win as many games as possible, but the Vegas lines which I include in the previews don’t lie. Neither do the advanced stats that show the Sun dead last in the W in offensive and defensive efficiency.

So all things considered, this was a laudable effort from the Sun. They battled defensively, ran some good things offensively, especially in the first half, but just couldn’t get shots to fall, and Caitlin Clark is a generational talent that dominates everything (to the tune of a +31) even when seemingly contained for much of the evening.

Hopefully the Sun can give a similar effort in 24 hours time while Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally have off nights, and their shots go in.

What else did we learn from a game which saw two Sun players (and not Marina Mabrey) ejected?:

I’m sure you want to talk about the incidents  - Most of all, I feel bad for Jacy Sheldon, who worked so hard to defend Clark (as she did at Ohio State for four years). They had their share of incidents in those games, most of which were really competitive, so you start with that. Then you add the Sun win over the Fever from three weeks ago. 

And Sheldon was frustrating the crap out of Clark in the first half, well before she seemingly accidentally got a piece of Clark’s face while going for the ball. Still, even with all that, I think things could have ended relatively peacefully before Mabrey came in and bumped Clark, sending her to the ground. Mabrey, somewhat surprisingly, wasn’t ejected and Sheldon got the worst of everything with a Flagrant 1. 

Later, Sophie Cunningham was injured behind the play (after getting tangled up with Haley Peters) and had been injured in the last meeting with the Sun. So when Sheldon (who probably shouldn’t have still been in the game, especially with the week coming up for Connecticut) got a steal and was driving at Cunningham, Cunningham saw her opportunity and delivered a hockey style cheap shot by grabbing Sheldon around the neck.

I said on Bluesky Cunningham was lucky Sheldon didn’t come up swinging, but a rewatch shows that Cunningham was prepared for that contingency and even got another little shot in at Sheldon and some more taunting before all was said and done. Clearly she was doing a favor for Clark, which, hey, that’s part of her job and the reason she’s in Indiana, Clark needs teammates to have her back when things that she thrives on get started. And by not ejecting Mabrey, the officials did not give her pause for doing what she did (maybe the WNBA should look at a suspension, but probably not?)

But somehow Sheldon and Lindsay Allen got ejected along with Cunningham and Indiana actually got a technical free throw out of it? Get out of here.  

Lexie Hull is an underrated defender - Hull is an underrated defender, even by her own team sometimes. The Fever drafted Hull sixth overall in 2022, but even up until last season was only averaging 20 minutes per game. But Stephanie White (who we miss) is no dummy and has made Hull (who is also a lethal shooter) a centerpiece in one of the best defensive teams in the league. Her length and quickness gave Mabrey fits and she is a big reason why Indiana is third in defensive efficiency this season.

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It’s hard to overcome poor shooting -  Whatever Rachid Meziane has tried and will try in the next few months, the key - at least offensively - is shooting the ball better. A lot of the 18 three-pointers the Sun missed were decent looks, and unfortunately Charles went cold from mid-range as well. Jaelyn Brown stepped up with 13 points, including two three-pointers (the rest of the team was 1-for-19, and that was a Saniya Rivers shot that rolled in). Sheldon has shown flashes and the Sun could really use a combination of her looking for her own shot and a strong post to help Olivia Nelson-Ododa.

Player of the game:  Jacy Sheldon - I didn’t think Sheldon did much wrong in everything that happened tonight, but her long feud with Clark has led to some serious harassment online apparently, and that’s just sad. A sign of the terrible online times, I guess, as well. And some terrible media outlets that just want clicks. But as much as we discuss tactics and are frustrated the Sun aren’t good this season, there are much more important things than basketball and hopefully Sheldon is able to keep perspective.

Inside the numbers : 0 -  Number of teams with losing records the Sun have beaten this season as this win pushed Indiana over .500 (and put them in the Commissioner’s Cup final for the first time).

Under the radar: Tina Charles led the Sun with 30 minutes played Tuesday, and we’ll see if that’s sustainable for the 36-year-old in this five games in seven days stretch that includes a flight to the west coast after Friday’s game. Mabrey and Sheldon played 28 minutes each as well (and they were obviously tough minutes), so Wednesday’s game with Phoenix should be interesting.

Quotable:  “I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing. When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow that stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long, this is what happens. You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do, when you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete. And they’re going to have their teammates’ backs. I started talking to the officials in the first quarter and we knew this was going to happen.” - Stephanie White

Next up: Wednesday vs. Phoenix, 7 p.m.