BOSTON — Caitlin Clark struggled in her first-ever visit to Boston — a performance that didn’t seem to spoil the mood of the fans who filled TD Garden on Tuesday night for a rare WNBA game in the home of the Celtics and Bruins.
Instead of Lucky the Leprechaun and the Boston Celtics’ iconic parquet, the Garden floor featured the logos of the WNBA and Connecticut Suns — the league's only New England team — as they hosted a game in Boston for the second year in a row.
“It’s a great opportunity for people in the city, or fans around the area, to come and support a team here,” Clark said before the game. “You don’t take these opportunities for granted. It’s always fun to go to a new arena in a new place and enjoy it.”
Clark scored 14 points on 4 for 14 shooting, adding seven assists and eight rebounds for the Fever, who pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 85-77. She committed one of her five turnovers on the Fever’s first possession and another when she stepped on the sideline at the end of the third quarter — guarded too closely to launch one of her logo 3-pointers.
She went 1 for 7 from beyond the arc and did not connect on a 3 until she gave the Fever an 80-71 lead with three minutes left — their biggest lead of the game.
Natasha Howard scored 18 points with 13 rebounds for Indiana. Tina Charles had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Sun, who beat the Los Angeles Sparks in Boston in front of a sold-out crowd last year but have stumbled to a 3-19 record this season — the worst in the league.
Late in the fourth quarter, Clark grabbed her inner right thigh and walked off the court in tears. She had recently missed five games due to a left groin injury. After the game, Coach Stephanie White mentioned that Clark felt something in her groin.
"She's being evaluated, we'll see where we are with that, and certainly we'll have another evaluation and conversation in the morning and see where we are," White said. "But this group has played without her; we have experience with that. It's going to be a challenge, and we just need to get locked in and ready to compete."
