WNBA: Indiana Fever at Phoenix MercuryChristie Sides bears the wrath of WNBA fans despite Indiana Fever’s win. (Getty)

Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides has earned the wrath of fans on X (formerly Twitter) after she failed to challenge a first-half out-of-bounds call in her team’s recent game vs. the New York Liberty. Taking on the superstar-stacked 2023 WNBA finalists, Caitlin Clark and her teammates went toe-to-toe and came away with an 83-78 victory.

Clark starred on the night and was at the heart of everything good the Fever did. She finished with 19 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds. This was the first triple-double of her WNBA career, and she came good playing against a team that the Fever had lost three straight games to this season.

Regardless, fans think Sides should have contested one particular referee call. A video on X clearly shows a moment when the ball did not go out of bounds and could easily have been contested.

One X user questioned Sides’ knowledge of the game entirely:

“Sides doesn’t know what a challenge is.”

There were various similarly furious responses on X:

“Cost her team 2 points!”

“Need a better option to coach this team. Who is out there who would want to coach for less money.”

“She let 3-4 go by and wasted on an easy fail.”

“Get Her out !!! Now !!! Tired of it”

The posts suggest that most fans were not happy, and quite a few asked for her sacking.

Caitlin Clark inspires Indiana Fever to major win against the New York Liberty

The New York Liberty had proved to be an Achilles heel for the Indiana Fever this season, even though they have had plenty of other disappointing games. The Fever are fourth in the Eastern Conference with an 8-13 record and have struggled to get going.

They came into this game off three losses in four games and were up against a side that has defeated them in each of their three clashes in the WNBA this season. The Liberty fell short despite big performances from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Sabrina Ionescu.

While Laney-Hamilton produced 20 points on the night, Ionescu top-scored in the game with 22. However, a resolute Indiana Fever saw a range of starters come up with the goods, and NaLyssa Smith also racked up a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Caitlin Clark not only did the majority of the scoring, but she also produced easy chances for her teammates. Fans might argue that this was Clark’s best performance to date, even though she has finished a few games with more points.