Clark, Fever short on playoff experience, high on hopes vs. Sun - ESPN

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Indiana Fever enter the WNBA playoffs with a lot of firsts on tap.

Sunday's first-round opener against the Connecticut Sun will mark the franchise's first postseason appearance since 2016, as well as the first playoff game for each member of Indiana's starting five, including star rookie Caitlin Clark.

But the No. 6-seed Fever are channeling the levity and youth that have helped them emerge as one of the best teams in the WNBA after the Olympic break in hopes it will help them pull off the upset of the No. 3 Sun.

«You can't get too tight; that's not going to let you play good basketball,» Clark said Saturday. «I think that's what's brought us a lot of success here in the second half of the season, is the fun and energy that we play with and a light mood. So I think it's good that you see everybody with that. But at the same time, I feel like everybody's approaching this as this is the playoffs. This is very important to every single person on this team.»

Teammate and fellow former No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston added: «I think the moment you tense up is when things could go south. For us, it's just about continuing to be who we are, having fun. That's one of the biggest things we tell each other, especially before every game, is let's have fun, let's make sure we continue to play together. And so even now, we've scouted, we know exactly what our game plan is, and it's just making sure that we continue to stay loose in the moment.»

Of the eight teams in the playoffs, Indiana sports the least amount of collective postseason experience — 19 contests among four players — and faces a Sun squad with 222 games of playoff play under its belt. That's the fifth-largest disparity between opponents in WNBA