Indiana Fever 'spectacle' goes international as team picks up fifth straight win in first trip to Toronto

TORONTO — The standard 5 o’clock pedestrian traffic of financiers in suits featured pops of red and No. 22 jerseys in the Entertainment District on Tuesday night. The promenade at Scotiabank Arena was populated with even more two hours before tip-off. 

The Indiana Fever show touched down across the border for the first time and hit all of its typical beats. The game moved to a larger NBA-sized arena filled to the brim at an announced sellout of 19,300. Fans waited in line longer than even Caitlin Clark herself thinks she would consider. And attention honed in on the visitors, with fans giddy at the arrival of the league’s most talked-about team. 

“It is a spectacle sometimes,” Fever head coach Stephanie White said. “But when it’s time to play, it’s time to play.” 

No steam was lost in this trip up north, despite the Fever reaching for another beat they’d rather not. The final minutes were made more scintillating than needed after Indiana allowed a 17-point lead to fade, and Tempo guard Marina Mabrey drained back-to-back 3s to pull within four. It was as close as the game had been since the start of the third quarter. 

But the Fever held on, and are now riding a five-game win streak with their magic number to clincha playoff spot at two. They are playing their best basketball in the recent stretch, led again by their big 3 of Clark (24 points, 7 assists), Kelsey Mitchell (29 points) and Aliyah Boston (16). Mitchell extended her streak of 20-plus point games to 20, tying the league record, but missed the fourth quarter. White said all indications are she “got overheated” in their second straight game played in an arena set closer to the temperature of an actual fever. 

“Maybe if Canada had air conditioning, that would probably be helpful,” Clark said on the post-game broadcast interview. “It’s a million degrees in here.” 

Mitchell also treated the crowd to a rare technical foul, clashing with local favorite Mabrey and pointing a finger in an animated on-court display from the Fever’s most reserved star. They were assessed a double technical, with no crash-outs ensuing. 

Not much can stop the Fever, who went 11 of 25 as a team from the perimeter with four 3s apiece by Clark and Mitchell and a perfect 3 of 3 by Sophie Cunningham. The “others,” as Cunningham said the non-big 3 calls themselves, chip in when and where needed to keep the league’s top scoring offense eclipsing the century mark on the regular. 

Her 13 points off the bench came amid a dueling cry of cheers and boos as the crowd determined where it stood in a conversation that is discussed in Canada, but without the political overtures of its southern neighbor. 

A local reporter gave her an out postgame. Was it that she didn’t like the ketchup chips, a beloved Canadian snack? 

“You know what? Yeah, I like where your mind is on that,” Cunningham quipped. 

In the Fever’s first trip to Canada, the majority of the day was spent talking about local cuisine and culture. It served as a reminder that though they are one league, there is a delineation for the WNBA’s first international team in some ways. In others, the show carried on unabridged. 

“The crowd was absolutely amazing,” Cunningham said. “I think that's what sport is all about. You're going to get boos, you're going to get cheers, but just the fact that they're so passionate, they're loud, and they're putting on for the city, I think it's amazing. So shoutout to you guys.” 

Toronto was in many ways no different from the typical magnitude a Fever visit brings to a city. Hopeful fans crushed into the arena corners over the tunnels, holding memorabilia. One father prepared his daughter that it would be nothing more than a brief encounter, showing her how to hold out a Sharpie. 

Another sat behind the Tempo bench while his young daughter bounced with nerves. She held a bouquet she hoped to give to Clark. An identical one waited carefully at her feet for Cunningham. The wish was granted. 

On the other end, two men sat behind the Fever bench, lifting phones with a legion of people doing the same behind them as Clark moved closer during pregame warm-ups. It was his first Fever game and first Tempo game. He was already preparing for an upset daughter returning home from camp to learn he was this close to Clark. 

“It's a privilege for us to be a part of that [spectacle],” White said. “And at the same time, pressure is a privilege, and we've got to make sure that we handle it every day.” 

While certain aspects know no international border in this expanding game, others stood out starkly. Pairs of fans walked the concourse, one in a Fever jersey and the other in Tempo gear. One woman wore a Clark jersey, but a Tempo ball cap. Bordeaux and white were plentiful, as were those waiting in long merchandise lines to buy more. There was a sense these fans became such through Clark and the Fever, but now have their own team to back.

“The biggest thing I’ve been able to see from afar for them through their first season is just the amount of people that are supporting the Tempo and are excited about the Tempo and excited for women’s basketball in this country,” Clark said before the game. 

She cheekily admitted that some fans who approached them at their hotel the previous night might have said they would be cheering for the Fever. To her credit, Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello noted as much the day prior at practice. It was the Tempo’s only ESPN game, whereas the Fever are on a stretch of them that continues to set viewership records. All 44 games are nationally televised, and their road games are regularly hospitable.

They’ll head back to the States, where the Fever will criss-cross their own country in a continuing road show in Dallas on Thursday, New York on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday. All three cities will experience different versions of the Fever road show they’ve seen many times before. None might be as friendly — as White specifically noted — as this first trip to Canada, a country known for it more than any delicacies its visiting players might have tried.