If the Indiana Fever has carried one theme this season, it’s resilience. Right from losing Caitlin Clark and DeWanna Bonner to two of their remaining point guards, the team has fought to stay put. Against the Dallas Wings on Tuesday night, it was yet another attempt at that. However, after a wild, down-to-the-wire finish, the team was left searching for answers. Head Coach Stephanie White offered her explanation for the collapse, but for many who watched the final chaotic seconds unfold, the real answers lay with the coach herself.

In the post-game press conference, when asked about the team’s disorganization and 17 turnovers, White didn’t hesitate. “Well, all of our point guards are injured. I think that’s the first thing,” she said, referencing the absences of Caitlin Clark, Sydney Colson, and Aari McDonald. “It’s tough… because point guards are the ones who get you organized.”

Dallas, ranked no. 10 in defensive rating, showed up rather strongly tonight. They turned up the pressure, made it difficult to bring up the ball, and limited their shooting to 28 for 63 from the field. Without point guards to initiate the offense and set up opportunities, that defense felt lethal than it did before.

But that excuse rings hollow when you look at what this same team did just three days earlier. In a 92-70 blowout win against the Chicago Sky, the Fever also had no true point guards. Yet, with Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham running the offense, they looked fluid, confident, and organized.

After that victory, Mitchell herself described the team’s ability to overcome adversity. “I think this is the most resilient team I’ve ever been a part of and I say that wholeheartedly,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of mishaps… but throughout the course of it all, we stay resilient… it took everybody.” That resilience makes the point guard excuse for the Wings loss feel convenient. 

The point guard excuse couldn’t explain away the final 12 seconds. White herself admitted she “probably should have used” her final timeout earlier, a critical hesitation that killed any chance of a structured play. That misstep, combined with what critics like Jason Whitlock called questionable rotations—playing a brand-new player for 13 minutes while seeming to underutilize Lexie Hull—painted a picture of a coach who was outmaneuvered. But White wasn’t leaving it at that. She knows weakness isn’t elusive to Indiana. 

“In the first quarter and in the third quarter, we dug ourselves a hole,” she added in the press conference. “Turnovers for scores, easy buckets, free throws.” Translation: defensive lapses. It has been years-long issue for the team and is still a work in progress. The Fever let up too many fouls, allowed 38 points in the paint, 18 in transition, and let Paige Bueckers & Co go on a 19-0 run in the third quarter.

With a roster limited to 10 players, thanks to injuries, White’s squad has little room for error. More so with the Aces closing in. It is easy then for emotions to boil over.

Caitlin Clark plays peacemaker as Coach Stephanie White’s frustrations boil over

While the chaotic final play was the lasting image of the loss, a moment in the second quarter perfectly captured the simmering tension of the night. As the game’s physicality ramped up, Coach White’s frustration with the officiating reached a boiling point. She stormed down the sideline to confront a referee, her anger palpable. But before she could get a technical foul, her injured superstar, Caitlin Clark, stepped in from the bench, physically grabbing her coach and pulling her back from the brink.

It was a stunning role reversal. Last season, the team famously formed a “Caitlin Clark De-Escalation Committee” to keep their fiery rookie from clashing with the refs. Now, Clark was the one playing peacemaker, managing her coach’s emotions.

In the post-game presser, White didn’t hold back, confirming the source of her anger and giving context to the sideline outburst. “I think there’s a double standard in how people get their calls,” she fumed. “I think Kelsey Mitchell… is held or chucked on every freaking possession and never gets a call… I think Aliyah Boston is the worst officiated post player in the league. She never gets a call.”

White’s frustration was likely amplified by a controversial play late in the second quarter. With the game tied, Wings star Paige Bueckers drove to the basket and went down, clutching her head. The dramatic nature of the fall immediately sparked a firestorm online, with fans renewing allegations that the rookie engages in “foul baiting.” This isn’t a new accusation in this rivalry. In fact, a previous game was marred by a lopsided free-throw count that had fans crying foul.

So, in a rivalry where every whistle is dissected, Bueckers’ fall was seen by many not as an injury scare, but as another attempt to work the officials, adding another layer of tension to a pressure-cooker season for the Fever.