Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking year in basketball ended with a landslide win in the playoffs.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — With her senior season coming to an end, Caitlin Clark had three more points in an attempt to pull off an unlikely comeback.

I hit the ball from 27 feet, the Indiana Fever down by six feet against the Connecticut Sun with 15 seconds left. The ball hit the back of the rim, bounced high in the air, hit the back racket and fell out of the court.

It was her final shot of the season, which ended with an 87-81 loss to the Suns in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday night. As the Suns celebrated their win, the Fever players briefly gathered on the court. Clark was the first to enter the tunnel, her long year of basketball coming to an end.

What a year: Clark began her senior year at Iowa State this time in 2023, filling raucous arenas from coast to coast while leaving her mark in the school and national record books, setting television ratings records almost weekly.

Without much time to think, she was selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft, then led a team that had won a combined 30 games over the previous four years to its first playoff appearance since 2016. And while Wednesday night certainly ended in disappointment — especially considering the Fever led with 2:05 remaining — Clark showed in her impressive debut season that this is a team just starting to climb.

“It’s a good little glimpse into what’s possible for this organization and this franchise,” Clark said. “There’s a lot to be proud of. This team won five games two years ago. We’re a young group, a little bit of an inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing together. Sometimes the worst part is when you feel like you’re playing your best basketball, and then you have to call it quits.”

When the Fever team drafted Clark, her presence alone set expectations sky high. But after a poor start, making the playoffs seemed impossible. It may have taken a while for the Fever team to find its rhythm, but it did, thanks to Clark, Aaliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, and a fast-paced offense that quickly became unstoppable.

Clarke finished with WNBA regular-season records for assists in a season (337), points scored or assisted in a season (1,520), points scored by a rookie (769) and three-point field goals made by a rookie (122). Her ability to not only shoot but also find her teammates was on full display in the first two games of the playoffs. On Wednesday night, she scored or assisted on 45 points, the most points scored by a rookie in a playoff game in WNBA history.

That she did so after playing a full college season, which ended April 7 with a loss in the national championship game to South Carolina, speaks to her natural talent.

But as Clarke said after the game, “The fun part is I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m a critical person with everything I do. I know I want to help this team get better, help my teammates get better, and I know there’s a lot of room for me to continue to improve. So that’s what excites me more than anything else. I feel like I can continue to get a lot better, and before we know it, I’m sure we’ll all be back here and ready for next year.”

Fever coach Christy Sides sees all that potential in her locker room, too. The team will have some decisions to make — general manager Len Dunn said the team has already started contract talks with Mitchell. Meanwhile, Nalisa Smith’s future also looks uncertain, with Temi Fagbenle replacing her in the starting lineup for Game 2.

But with Boston and Clarke — two-time first-round picks — forming the team’s young core, there’s a solid foundation to move forward. Dunn spoke of a three-year plan to get Fever back to the playoffs when she returned to the franchise in February 2022.

The new plan?

“The next timeline is to play for championships,” said Dan. “That’s why I loved working with Pacer Sports and Entertainment and Fever. Our goal was to win. Our goal was to bring great people to this franchise and do whatever it takes to be competitive day in and day out. We expect this franchise to compete for championships.”

There may be some history in their favor, too. The previous three WNBA teams to have had back-to-back No. 1 picks won the WNBA championship within four years. And no one is counting.

As Sides said: “We certainly have the ingredients to have great years ahead.”

What makes Sides proud of her team is that it has had to contend with more than just a rough start to the season. Clark has been in the spotlight for years now, but her move to the WNBA has led to more personal attacks in various forms, from social media to personal harassment.

In fact, Clark got into an altercation with a fan in the first quarter, complaining to officials. While it’s unclear what the fan said, security personnel removed him from the court and spoke to him before he was allowed back to his seat.

Earlier in the week, speculation swirled on social media about whether Dijonay Carrington had deliberately hit Clarke in the eye, causing a bruise. Both players denied it was deliberate, but that didn’t stop it becoming a topic of conversation. In fact, The Sun reported that Dijonay Carrington had deliberately hit Clarke in the eye, causing a bruise. Post a nail art emoji on social media After their win, this isn’t the first time this has happened, of course. Any interaction between Clark and the other players turns into a physical interaction that is dissected ad nauseam.

Clarke did not address the pressure she has been under over the past few years, but Sides defended her players after the match.

“There’s a lot of hurtful, hateful talk going on out there, and it’s unacceptable,” Sides said. “This is basketball, this is their job, and they’re doing the best they can. When it gets personal to me, there’s no reason for it. These guys have to listen and watch — social media is their life. This is just what they do. They have to constantly read and see this stuff, and all the stories that are made up of what people see or think they see. It’s unacceptable when it gets personal.”

Maybe now that the season is over, it’s a good time to reflect. As Clarke said, “I feel like basketball really consumed my life for a year. So I feel like it would be good for me to reflect on everything that happened.”

She has no plans to play basketball in the coming weeks. But you might find her on a golf course somewhere in Indiana until the weather turns cooler.

“I’m going to be a professional golfer,” Clark said with a laugh.

“Not much,” Boston said. “Keep playing basketball.”