Caitlin Clark's Fever Coach Questions Team's Mental Toughness After Embarrassing Loss

The Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark-era is not off to a hot start, and their coach Christie Sides, isn't liking what she has seen in the team's first two games, especially on the toughness front.

Now, I don't think anyone really expected the Indiana Fever to be world-beaters. Think how bad you have to be to lock up the first pick in any league. We've seen many, many times that drafting a generational player doesn't mean instant success.

The Fever opened their season on Monday against the Connecticut Sun and lost that game 92-71, then on Thursday night, they were completely embarrassed in their home opener by the New York Liberty, 102-66. Clark, for her part, played 30 minutes and tallied 7 rebounds, 9 points, and 6 assists.

Obviously, Sides wouldn't be happy about that game, but she specifically called out the team's lack of confidence.

"If somebody keeps punching you, you've got to be able to respond to it," Sides said, per Athlon Sports. "You've gotta give some of that back. And that's where we are. We've got to get to another level of mental toughness."

She also added, "We just have to get better. More mentally tough."

Well, there's one way to do that be on the wrong side of some more unholy shellackings.

Indiana Fever head coach Christine Sides questioned the toughness she was seeing out of Caitlin Clark and company. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

The Fever are a younger team, and they didn't get a whole lot of time to get prepared before the season started, so there will be growing pains. 

But, if you consider Caitlyn Clark's situation, this is the first time in a while that she's not playing on a dominant team. That's got to feel a little weird. Especially when you consider that playing from behind requires a different mindset than playing with the lead.

While the returns through two games haven't been stellar, you've got to think Clark and the Fever will turn things around eventually. 

The only problem for the WNBA is that it might not be soon enough to ride the immense wave of interest that came with Clark's debut.