Right around seven minutes into the Indiana Fever’s 84-79 survival win at the Atlanta Dream Monday night, rookie guard Caitlin Clark abruptly collapsed. It was the brief glimpse into an ordeal that surely all Fever fans can’t think more than seconds about. While playing defense, Clark rolled her left ankle. She had help to get up, and slightly limped back to Indiana’s bench.

The rookie sat for the rest of the first quarter.

“If you’ve ever sprained your ankle, it just kind of stings for a little bit,” Clark said afterward. “So, I was good. They were like, ‘You want to go in the back?’ I’m like, ‘No, just please tape right here, let’s go. We gotta keep going, get on with the game.’ But I’ve done it a few times, so it is what it is. You’re not a real basketball player if you haven’t sprained your ankles a bunch.”

Clark returned to the court ahead of the beginning of the second quarter and finished the night playing 37 minutes, scoring 19 points, and dishing out seven assists. With five seconds to go in the third quarter, Clark went behind the back and drove. The massive bucket put the Fever back up to double digits going into the final quarter. They had led by 18 points and began to let it slip.

And then the Fever’s opening basket of the fourth quarter was Clark, once more dribbling behind her back and sticking the step-back 26-footer over Atlanta’s two-time All-Star guard Rhyne Howard. Ironically, that triple tied Clark with Howard for the most rookie 3-pointers in WNBA history. Her 4-for-9 clip was her best shooting night, percentage-wise, since July 10 — or seven games ago.

Caitlin Clark has rolled her ankle before this season. She did it back in mid-May at home while the Fever hosted the Connecticut Sun. Back then, she did say something similar about how every basketball player has ankle injuries. Clark returned in that matchup and did so Monday night. She was able to joke about her initial painful reaction, clutching her ankle and writhing in pain.

“Yeah, I saw the replay,” Clark said. “I look really soft.”

Fever veteran Kelsey Mitchell playing on another level

Since the league-wide restart, Kelsey Mitchell’s performances have been numbing, to the point where four consecutive games with 20-plus points has somehow looked more and more mundane in this 3-1 stretch. Beside Mitchell’s season-high 29 points, Clark sustained and fueled runs, Aliyah Boston held her own in the paint, and forward Damiras Dantas hit three triples, her season high.

“I think for us it’s about playing out of tempo,” Mitchell later said. “And I like to play that way. And I’ve got teammates that want to play that way… so for me, it’s about obviously, being confident in my play, but playing alongside of my teammates, and kind of letting that chemistry flow. And I think when I found my spots, and utilized my team to find those spots, I looked decent, so.”

The Fever led by 11 points going into the fourth, yet that lead dwindled to one possession with Howard almost getting the last laugh over Clark with her third 3-pointer already of the second half. Howard did not play the last time these teams met in late June due to an injury to the left ankle. In mid-June, the matchup prior, Howard herself almost rallied late to beat the Fever. But Fever guards Lexie Hull and Mitchell got back-to-back and-1 baskets to go back up by seven.

Mitchell did miss her next four shots, but she did later ice the game with free throws, after the Dream chaotically failed to tie it on their final possession, which even involved two offensive rebounds. Howard never got another look. Oh, and on the and-1 bucket, Mitchell flexed at the stanchion and appeared to yell “and one!” and then another phrase that was hard to read out.

It may very well be the most passion she has shown all season.

Caitlin Clark, Fever eyeing franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016

With Monday’s victory, the Fever have overtaken their win total from last season, with 10 more games to go. They sit in seventh place in the WNBA standings, and the top eight make the postseason. Entering Monday, Atlanta was 2.5 games behind Indiana –– now 3.5 — and the Dream are only one game back from Chicago in eighth place. Indiana plays both once more.

Before the win, Caitlin Clark said that she and her teammates hadn’t openly talked about the weight of that night’s game for playoff positioning. It didn’t need to be spoken: everyone in the locker knows every single matchup down the stretch is important. It should be noted that the Dream aren’t some superteam, but wins are wins, and the Fever have some great ones out of the break.

Add another one, this time on the road, to the list.

Clark didn’t think it’d be the end of the world if they lost.

But the race is much, much simpler for Indiana with the tiebreaker over Atlanta.

Now, the Fever get the handful of the second-place Connecticut Sun at home Wednesday.