Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever go back to work Saturday against the Chicago Sky, with a noon-day matchup that comes with more than just another regular-season game attached to it. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT at the United Center in Chicago, and the game will air on ABC.
The timing matters because Indiana enters at 19-12 after an 86-84 overtime loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Aug. 6, a game Clark finished with 20 points and eight assists. She also missed two crucial free throws in regulation, committed eight turnovers and had her final turnover with Indiana up by a point and 10 seconds left in overtime before Chelsea Gray’s game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. That kind of finish can linger, especially for a team that is trying to steady itself before another high-profile trip into a difficult road setting.
Chicago brings a 12-19 record, but the Sky have won three of their last four games and already pushed Indiana once this season. The Sky lost the first meeting, 114-106 in overtime on June 11, and they arrive with Kamilla Cardoso averaging 14.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Even so, their own lineup has been altered all season by absences: Rickea Jackson has been out since May with a season-ending torn ACL, Skylar Diggins-Smith has missed significant time with a right knee injury, and Azurá Stevens has been away for personal reasons.
Indiana’s bigger concern may be on its own front line. Aliyah Boston is dealing with a nagging right leg injury, Billings is working through a left hip injury, and Dantas is out for the season after tearing her meniscus in July. That leaves the Fever with less certainty around the very part of the roster that helps absorb the grind of an overtime game and the follow-up test that comes only two days later. The teams will meet again Aug. 23 in Indianapolis, but Saturday’s game is the one that will show whether Indiana can shake off the last one before the injuries start to shape the matchup even more.
