The Indiana Fever suffered yet another loss on Tuesday night, falling to the Los Angeles Sparks by a score of 88-82. And after the game, head coach Christie Sides criticized superstar rookie Caitlin Clark during her postgame press conference.
Caitlin Clark scored 30 points, six assists, and five rebounds to lead her team, but she did have one technical foul at the end of the first quarter. And Christie Sides criticized her for it during her postgame press conference.
“We’re spending too much time talking to the officials,” Sides said according to Indiana Fever beat writer Matthew Byrne of Clutch Points. “We’ve got to leave that alone. We’ve got to just play our game and let them do their job and not put it in their hands… We shouldn’t get technicals. Let me get the technicals.”
Sides may not have called out Clark by name in her comments, but she didn’t really have to because Clark was the only person on the team that was called for a technical foul during the game. So it’s pretty clear who she was talking about.
Needless to say, Sides’ decision to call out Clark caused quite a stir on social media.
Lol all this is missing is Sides explicitly telling Clark she should "try to be more like Kristy Wallace." This coach is an absolute menace. Not just incompetent, a legitimate detriment to her team. https://t.co/z0zHrfsHKM
— Just Thomas 🦖 (@AudacityofTrope) May 29, 2024
Yikes! A bad look for #ChristieSides tonight. When you’ve got the no.1 draft pick all eyes are on her team. The bad part? All. Eyes. Are. On. Her. Team. Go get those techs, Sides! https://t.co/DDwvEVpRcN
— Holly A. Phillips (@OrangeJulius7) May 29, 2024
Someone please get this team a coach!@IndianaFever https://t.co/zohfiuhO9h
— summer 🏜️🌵 (@summerbreeze002) May 29, 2024
Not a good look by Christie Sides…. Calling out your rookie like this… yikes https://t.co/f2rqLuUR89
— Kourtney Bendixen (@Kourtney_B123) May 29, 2024
This is just… yikes. I’d argue there’s more important things to focus on than technicals. This organization had opportunities to add much needed veteran experience in the offseason, and they didn’t. Here we are with a team that doesn’t mesh well together, bad subs, bad defense. https://t.co/CMiwF7haUv
— Leanna V (@ForeverABobcat) May 29, 2024
Christie Sides deserves to be fired. Fever don't lose vs Sparks because CC's technical foul. They lost because of Sides' ineptitude in not knowing how to move her pieces, not knowing how to adjust and not knowing which players to count on. Stupid for her to say that when they… https://t.co/Xb7yrG3kXN
— Jorge Avila Andrade (@jorgegavila) May 29, 2024
Needless to say, people are not happy with Sides.