The matchup between the Seattle Storm and Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever was a gripping one with scores reading 81-83 15 seconds on the clock. With many moments of joy, sadness, and thrill, the one that outshined was that of petty for the Indiana fans. After the two teams made repetitive end-to-end moves, the Storm finally triumphed with foul trouble on the Fever. But with what occurred after, fans did not find it an easy pill to swallow.

A YouTube video posted by Women Hooping shows the two teams leaving the floor. The excited Seattle Storm left for the locker room all jolly. While Indiana, who led the game on several occasions, left for their hometown. However, the No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark turned around continuously to make eye contact with someone in the opposing team. As she left into the tunnel after a disappointing loss, she shook her head for the instance having not met the expected. The entire Seattle team ignored Fever and Clark. They did not even shake hands after sweeping the marginal win.

Tonight’s game saw a whopping 18,343 in attendance. The biggest crowd in the history of Seattle Storm, probably expecting a heated game between Nika Muhl and Caitlin Clark, just like they did in the 2024 Final Four game. However, Muhl had a short debut game of just 3 minutes before the head coach swapped her again in the highly intense game. Although the fans did not really say anything about her reduced presence, they did have to say about the sportsmanship that Seattle did not show after the 83-85 win.

Caitlin Clark fans left angry as Seattle Storm ignores the rookie

It is not every night that the teams line up to meet their competitors. However, Caitlin Clark thought it would be, this being their first matchup against the Storm and Nika Muhl, a rather familiar face. The two last met in their Final Four game where Iowa took down the Huskies. But nothing of the sort happened right after the game. Hence, one writer commented about how even Muhl, who also has just transferred to the W, did not stop to meet Caitlin Clark. While they did meet later, fans hopped on the bandwagon quite quickly.

“this is pathetic… disappointed in nika”

Another Caitlin Clark fan was also quite quick to point out how the huge crowd in the Climate Pledge Arena was all because of the Fever rookie. In fact, the very possibility of them having a Charter today is because of the eyes that the rookie brings to the league. This is something that LeBron James also acknowledged her for in his recent conversation with JJ Reddick. Fans now giving the recently turned pro a word of advice, asked her to ignore the opposing team.

“No class. No sportsmanship. Record attendance, Charter flights for everyone. Record viewership. She is much bigger than they are. Caitlin we love you. Ignore them.”

One of the basketball followers could not believe that the Storm did not even turn around to look at the rookie waiting for them. In their comment, they mentioned how Clark turned around to see if anyone would notice her. But when they did not, she simply went into the tunnel accepting her fifth consecutive defeat.

“Wow. She even waited for a long time to make eye contact with them but they never looked back”

Joining the crowded section, another Fever fan came up to call on Seattle for not being a great role model. Calling their behavior of leaving the floor right after the win “disgusting,” the fan supported Fever how they were worthy of respect. Tonight’s game saw multiple ties and leads being changed throughout the 40 minutes. In fact, Fever’s last foul call gave the Storm a push which led to their win instead of an overtime being forced. The fan also called out Noelle Quinn for not teaching the basic etiquette of being a player to her team.

“Absolutely disgusting! Fever played a great game! They were worthy opponents! They should be respected by the other team for that! Terrible role modelling for young pkayers out there! Just terrible! Seattle coach should be ashamed!”

One more Caitlin Clark follower joined the comment section to express their views about Seattle. According to them, this act was quite petty and showed how they were quite jealous of Caitlin Clark. This reminds of the time when Michael Jordan won over the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Then, Detroit did not shake hands with MJ and the Chicago Bulls despite the defeat. Now, whether the ego of being one of the better teams was the reason behind it all or the adrenaline of winning a tough game, seems like Seattle is repeating the history with a hyped rookie like Clark.

“That’s petty.”

The Fever is slowly turning up the heat. It has presented yet another display to its fans that it can come back in the game. While both the teams had less than a month to practice with each other, it will be interesting to see how the tables turn in their next matchup.