Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark gave her team a brutal grade for its lackluster defensive performance against the Las Vegas Aces in the first game of the 2026 WNBA playoffs on Sunday.
Indiana traveled to Vegas and got pummeled by the three-headed monster of A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, allowing 102 points in a dispiriting playoff loss to kick off the first-round series.
The Fever will get a chance to even the score at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday evening. If the team can't, its 2026 season will be over as it is eliminated from the playoff field.
Clark seems to understand that pretty well, as she gave her team an "F" for its Aces defensive performance. Ouch.
"you talked before the game about making things hard on them
defensively... how would you grade that?" caitlin: "an F" aces shot 59.4% overall - 9-19 (47.4%) from 3 - 12-16 (75%) at the rim pic.twitter.com/TC3HEV8DTk
— jack maloney (@jackmaloneycbs) September 27, 2026
Indiana still has time to right the ship and send the series back to Vegas for a winner-take-all Game 3. If the team plays defense on Tuesday like it did on Sunday, the Fever will have to look to 2027 to fix its defensive struggles.
When is Game 2?
The game is at 6:30 p.m. ET in Indianapolis on Amazon Prime Video.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Caitlin Clark gives Fever brutal grade for Aces defensive performance
