INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark was smiling, actually she was laughing, Sunday after avoiding a dreaded seventh technical foul that would have meant she didn't get to play in the Indiana Fever 's final regular season game against Washington on Thursday.
But Clark acknowledged, as did coach Christie Sides , the team has done a good job of "babysitting" the WNBA rookie who can, at times, need a gentle reminder to keep her emotions in check.
As Clark went on a shooting rampage against Dallas in the Fever's final home game before the playoffs, scoring a career-high 35 points and setting the rookie scoring record, she knew she needed to stay calm. But what she needed to do and what she wanted to do don't always line up.
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With 1:46 left in the first half, the Fever leading 55-53, Clark drove to the basket, but missed the shot as Dallas' Natasha Howard defended her. Clark fell to the floor and Howard fell on top of her. As Clark was down, she stayed on the floor for a few seconds, her hands covering her face. Officials called an offensive foul on Clark.
"She took quite a tumble on the way down," announcers said. "And (it's) a loose ball foul on Caitlin Clark there who took the worst of it. Caitlin Clark is really incensed."
Clark's teammates Aliyah Boston and Erica Wheeler came to Clark's side as she yelled to the officials "That's a foul," steering her toward technical foul safety. Clark picked up her sixth technical Friday in the Fever's 78-74 loss to Las Vegas.
A seventh would have meant a one-game suspension. With one regular season game remaining after Sunday, Clark is safe. Once the playoffs begin the foul clock resets.
"Well, I didn't think they were going to give me a technical at any point tonight. I would have been really sad for people in Washington D.C.," Clark said after the Fever's 110-109 win against Dallas. "I didn't want to do that. I tried my best, but my teammates do a really good job of that."
When Sides was asked after the game if she has encouraged Clark's teammates to help reel her in, she said it was "just good team chemistry stuff."
"They all know what's at stake with Caitlin, and they know she's doing incredible things," Sides said. "She's just special and these guys know that's her passion, that's her fire. They all know when she's reached that point and when we need to have a little assistance to come out there. And I appreciate that."
At another point during the game, the Fever's Katie Lou Samuelson came to Clark's aid.
"I saw Katie running, just standing right in front of her, I mean came from all the way from the bench," Sides said. "That's just trying to make sure their teammate doesn't do anything that doesn't allow her to play in our last game against Washington. And that's prep. We've got to prep for where we're trying to go and what we're trying to do."
In the end, it was Boston who got the technical foul Sunday with one second left in the game.
"She's the one babysitting me and then somehow she ends up with a technical and she didn't really do anything. She was just standing there so that's what was funny to me," Clark said. "But I think I did a better job. I still thought there were a couple moments there where I could have been a little bit better."
With the technical foul issue no longer looming over her, Clark said she felt some relief.
"Now it's basically over. I don't have to worry about that anymore, but I don't want to be getting technicals at all," she said. "And my mom doesn't want that for me either and I don't want to pay any more fines, so I'm done with that."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow . Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com .
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: With teammates 'babysitting' her, Caitlin Clark's technical foul worries behind her for now
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