Caitlin Clark leads Fever past Dream in overtime thriller with major playoff seeding implications

With just seconds remaining in the Indiana Fever’s thrilling 95-91 overtime victory over the Atlanta Dream on Sunday evening, Caitlin Clark secured a rebound and, rather than wait to get fouled, lobbed the ball the length of the court to let the clock expire.

“I’ve had that in the bag for a while,” Clark joked after finishing with 26 points and nine assists in another strong outing. “Just chuck it down the court. Somebody’s gotta go get it or the clock’s gonna run out.” 

Clark’s unconventional move ensured that the Fever’s surge continued. They’ve now won four in a row and 11 of their last 14 to climb into fourth place at 23-12. With nine games to play, they’re just two wins away from setting a single-season franchise record. 

Why Fever’s win Sunday was so important

Entering Sunday’s matchup, the Fever were in fourth place at 22-12 and the Dream were in fifth at 21-12; Atlanta led the season series 2-1. Early in the game, ESPN’s broadcast noted that the winner would have a massive edge in the race for a top-four seed, which comes with home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. 

If the Dream had won, they still would have been half a game behind the Fever in the standings, but they would have clinched the season series and the tiebreaker in the event that the teams have identical records at the end of the season. 

Instead, the Fever came back from a 10-point second-half deficit to win. The result moved them one and a half games ahead of the Dream in the standings and evened the season series at 2-2. In a two-team tiebreak, head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker, and the second is record against .500 or better teams at the end of the season. We’ll now have to wait until the season is over to find out whether the Fever or Dream win the season series, but as of Sunday, the Fever are 10-10 against .500+ opponents and the Dream are 10-11. 

The Fever now have a 63% chance of earning a top-four seed, something they haven’t done since the WNBA changed the playoff format in 2016 to eliminate conference affiliation. 

Fever get lucky at end of regulation

After the Fever spent the entire fourth quarter working their way back from a double-digit second-half deficit, the score was tied at 81-81 with less than 10 seconds to play. The Dream had the ball and had three looks at a probable game-winner. None of them went in. 

Rhyne Howard’s initial attempt was an airball, but it went right to Angel Reese, who had carved out some space under the basket. Unfortunately for the Dream, Reese’s elite offensive rebounding ability and poor interior finishing were both on display on that possession. Her putback rolled off the rim, highlighting a 5 of 16 shooting performance. 

Still, the Dream had another chance when Naz Hillmon grabbed the loose ball. She missed her putback too, however, and the game went to overtime. 

Timpson has breakout performance

Clark missed out on notching her fourth-consecutive 20-point, 10-assist game — which would have given her sole possession of the longest such streak in WNBA history — by one assist. Kelsey Mitchell did manage to extend her WNBA record 20-point streak to 19 games with a clutch layup in overtime despite a sub-par 9 of 22 shooting performance. Aliyah Boston added 18 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, five steals and three blocks. 

And yet, the most important performance of the night came from second-year big Makayla Timpson. 

Timpson was inserted into the starting lineup in place of Monique Billings on Aug. 8, and the Fever haven’t lost since. One of the best pure athletes in the league, Timpson is an elite rebounder and strong interior finisher who gives the Fever a different look, particularly on defense. She can’t do much on offense outside of the paint, but Boston, who is shooting a career-high 43.2% from 3-point range, can now operate as the spacing big, giving the Fever much more lineup flexibility. 

We saw the difference Timpson can make for the Fever right from the opening possession on Sunday, when she picked up Dream point guard Jaylyn Sherrod, allowing Clark to “hide” on Hillmon, a non-shooter. She continued to make an impact throughout the game, particularly in overtime when she scored six consecutive points to give the Fever the lead for good. 

Timpson finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and a block on 9 of 13 from the field, and the Fever were plus-10 with her on the floor. Her 20 points and 33 minutes were both career-highs. 

“My teammates believe in me, my coaches believe in me so much that I don’t got a choice but to believe in myself,” Timpson said. 

In four games as a starter, Timpson is averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds on 62.1% shooting, and the Fever are plus-38 with her on the floor in her 116 minutes. 

“KK’s done everything great,” Clark said. “Her off-ball cutting, her 90 cutting, the way she finishes around the rim. Just really proud of her and the way she’s grown since All-Star break. She’s been huge for us and difference-maker.”