Ask any Indiana or Iowa fan, and they will certainly point out showmanship as one of the best traits of Caitlin Clark. Just her raising her hands up in the air, hyping up the crowd, and smiling at them is enough to raise the temperature. And it, of course, comes from the passion she has for the game of basketball. But believe it or not, it can be a double-edged sword.

As much as she hypes the crowd, she is as fiery to the referees dare they give her a whistle. Her coaches are no strangers to having a heated discussion with her, either. But now, we are seeing more instances of that passion turning into something special yet scary. That’s the reality that her heated interaction with Fever head coach Stephanie White brought to the forefront in the 16-point loss to the Portland Fire. And now, The Athletic’s writer James Boyd is giving his personal take.

“With Caitlin Clark, she is not always a nice teammate or a nice person to referee or a nice person to coach because of her edge, but the edge is what makes her special,” Boyd said on ‘WNBA On CLNS.’

Clark’s intensity has been her specialty since her high school days, but it has also hindered her from connecting with what others are trying to say. Just take last season, for instance.

When the point guard was sidelined with injuries, White gave her one task: look at the game from a coach’s perspective. That was not just a task to keep a disgruntled Clark calm as she continued to miss games, but an important aspect of training her.

Although White and Clark are similar when it comes to the game of basketball, their understanding of it can be different. And while riding the pine, Clark could see how and why the coach guided the team a certain way. It gave her an additional view.

“It’s one of the things that makes her special, and you don’t want to take it away from her,” White said. “There are times where it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to maintain poise and composure.’ But there are also times where it feeds us and carries us on runs that we might not have made if we didn’t have it.”

An aggressive Caitlin is often a nightmare for opponents. That Valkyries game is the best example where she had a little trash talk with Tiffany Hayes and proceeded to drop logo bombs and 22 points.

Yet, the public scrutiny remains unwarranted. Both White and Clark have clarified where they stand with each other.

“My relationship with Caitlin is great,” White said. “I love Caitlin. I ride with her, we have a great relationship.”

Clark clarified that this is something very normal to happen between a coach and a player. And this wouldn’t be anything new for her either.

When her passes were just too good for her high school teammates, she was frustrated.

“It was hard for her to understand what other people would feel,” her coach at the time, Christine Meyer, said.

While Clark continued to learn and evolve, that fire did not go away in college.

“The toughest part is sometimes she can be a little stubborn, and as I can be as well,” former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder had said.

However, Bluder maintained that Clark wanted to be coached. But Clark and Bluder worked on it through her four years. While Clark has improved, that ‘edge’ does not go away, as even White admitted she is tasked with controlling it. 

So, while that fire can be difficult to control, it often makes Clark stand above the rest, much like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Diana Taurasi, among others.

Nevertheless, the heat of that interaction and the loss have cooled down, and White is looking for improvement ahead of the Atlanta game. 

Stephanie White Sets Clear Demand From Caitlin Clark and Co. Ahead of Dream Matchup

The Indiana Fever have struggled on defense. While the spotlight was on Caitlin Clark and her isolation defense, the entire team has struggled. With a defensive rating of 104.8, they rank 10th in the league. They are averaging 15.8 turnovers per game, ranking 11th in the league. However, there is one metric Stephanie White is looking to improve, especially ahead of the matchup against Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream. 

“We need more boards. We need more rebounding,” White said. “But that has to come from the guards too. It’s got to be a collective effort. Oftentimes, the bigs are occupied with keeping the other bigs off the glass. I’d like to see a little more off-ball cutting and getting out of screens quicker.”

The Indiana Fever is currently rebounding the worst in the league with 258 so far, and is fifth-worst with 32.3 rebounds per game. However, they have the highest rebounding percentage in the league with 53.9%. We have already seen it in their game where the team is not aggressive enough on either side of the court.

One of the reasons is the fewer opportunities to rebound, as they are letting the opponents shoot at 47% from the field and 33% from the three-point line. They need to close out better and go for each and every rebound to maximize their possessions.

That applies particularly against Angel Reese and the Dream. Reese is comfortably the best rebounder in the league with 11.3 per game, while the Dream leads the league with 37.4 per game.

They also shoot 28 threes per game at 32% efficiency, which means the Fever will have to stop Reese’s rebounds and not give them extra possessions. In the long term, improved rebounding will give them a better transition offense, which Caitlin Clark excels in.