Fever vs. Fire: Aliyah Boston Scores 24 as Indiana Beats Portland 90-73 Without Caitlin Clark

Less than two hours before tipoff on Wednesday, the Indiana Fever delivered the news nobody at Gainbridge Fieldhouse wanted: Caitlin Clark was out with a back injury, her first missed game of the season. That is the kind of late scratch that turns a comfortable home date into a very nervous one.

It turned out the Fever had this one covered. Aliyah Boston scored 24, Kelsey Mitchell added 21, Lexie Hull had a perfect shooting night, and Indiana rolled past the Portland Fire 90-73 in front of 14,010. The Fire, playing their first road game of the season, led for exactly zero seconds.

A Scare That Lasted About Five Minutes

Indiana came out sharp, taking a 28-20 lead after one quarter, but expansion Portland hung around long enough to make people check the injury report one more time. When Sarah Ashlee Barker knocked down a midrange jumper with 5:46 left in the half, the Fever's lead was just 32-30, and the absence of Clark suddenly felt very real.

What came next was the game. Indiana scored 21 of the next 28 points and went to the locker room up 53-37. It was also the half in which the Fever looked least like a team missing its point guard: they shot 18 of 33, handed out 13 assists and beat Portland 13-6 at the free-throw line.

The rest was housekeeping. Indiana took the third quarter 20-14 for a 73-51 lead and kept the margin in double figures for the entire second half. The Fever's lead peaked at 26, and they tacked on an 8-0 run late in the fourth, with Raven Johnson making two free throws and a 25-footer around a Hull 3 to reach 90-65 with 2:52 left. Portland closed on eight straight once the outcome had long been settled, which made the score look a little more polite than the night had been.

Boston Is Back, and Hull Is Perfect

Boston had missed Sunday's 89-78 win over Seattle, the first game of her career she had ever sat out. She looked very much like someone with a point to make. She scored her 24 on 8-of-11 shooting in just 21 minutes, going 2 of 4 from 3 and 6 of 6 at the line, and she added eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. The five turnovers were the only blemish on a plus-22 night.

Mitchell scored 21 on 6-of-11 shooting, made 7 of 9 free throws and handed out four assists, with a lot of the shot creation falling to her in Clark's absence. She finished plus-25.

Then there's Hull, whose stat line looks like a typo. She went 4 of 4 from the field, every one of them a 3, and 4 of 4 at the line for 16 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds and tied Mitchell's team-best plus-25. You could play this game a thousand times and not get a cleaner shooting night.

The most interesting box score belonged to Tyasha Harris, starting for the first time as a member of the Fever with Clark out. She missed all six of her shots and finished with zero points. She also had seven assists, two steals and not one turnover in 29 minutes, and Indiana was plus-17 with her on the floor. That is what running a team looks like when the ball is not going in for you.

The reserves were less tidy. Raven Johnson needed 12 shots for her nine points and went 1 of 8 from 3, though Myisha Hines-Allen gave the Fever seven points and three assists in 18 minutes.

Portland got 16 from Bridget Carleton, with 12 of those coming in the first half, and 14 from Sug Sutton on 6-of-8 shooting. Barker added eight points and six rebounds. Emily Engstler went 2 of 10. The worrying moment came at the end of the third quarter, when rookie Nyadiew Puoch needed help getting to the bench, unable to put much weight on her right leg. She walked to the locker room from there and did not come back. Puoch arrived off consecutive double-figure games, and on Wednesday she was scoreless in 20 minutes.

Twenty-One of Twenty-Eight

There is no suspense about the turning point. Barker's jumper at 5:46 of the second quarter was Portland's last real moment, and the 21-7 burst that followed ended any thought that Clark's absence would decide this game. In the last 5:46 of the half, a two-point lead became a 16-point lead, and Portland never got back within single digits.

Stats That Matter

• 21-9: Indiana's assist edge. Portland made 27 shots and assisted on only a third of them.
• 9 of 28 vs. 3 of 16: Threes, an 18-point gap in a 17-point game.
• 25 of 29: Indiana at the line. Portland was excellent at 16 of 17, but it took 12 fewer attempts.
• 20-14: The Fever's edge in points off turnovers.
• 46-34: Portland's advantage in the paint, the one column where the Fire won comfortably.

Where Everybody Stands

Indiana moves to 3-2 and 2-2 at home, with a second straight win. Golden State comes to town on Friday, and the obvious question is whether Clark will be available.

Portland falls to 2-3 after going 2-2 in its first four games, all of them at home. The Fire are now 0-1 on the road and visit fellow expansion team Toronto on Saturday, and they will be watching Puoch's status closely.

The Understudy Goes On

Every theater kid knows the nightmare: the star is out, the announcement goes up two hours before curtain and the understudy has to walk out there in front of a full house. Harris went on, missed every shot she took and still ran the show without a single turnover. Boston and Mitchell took the big solos. Hull, somehow, did not miss a note. The crowd may have bought tickets for one headliner, but Indiana just proved the production has more than one reason to keep running.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.