Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark may be Fever’s cornerstones, but Kelsey Mitchell is the rock

INDIANAPOLIS — We’re looking at the viral clip wrong. We’re not noticing Kelsey Mitchell.

No, Mitchell wasn’t the headliner in that 22-second video of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark protesting and head coach Stephanie White pointing, then Clark shrugging and White subbing out her star player right then and there. In that sideline footage from Saturday’s loss to the Portland Fire, White looked infuriated while Clark looked over it. And, those poor, poor Fever players — each one facing the cell phone camera — looked as though they’d rather be anywhere else but that huddle.

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However, lost in all that tension was the one player who provides Indiana with some desperately needed tranquility.

Oh, there you are, Ms. Mitchell. The adult in the room.

The stabilizer, and the calm to the chaos. Your pro’s favorite pro. Besides helping to pacify her team’s problems with an 83-71 win over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night, Mitchell scored her 5,000th career point. She reached the milestone, becoming only the second player in franchise history to do so behind legend Tamika Catchings, as she scored 11 straight points in the third quarter and finished with a game-high 25 on 11-of-15 shooting.

Mitchell made one jumper, which prompted teammate Tyasha Harris to look directly into an arena camera and shrug like M.J. for the Jumbotron. After another big shot, Harris covered her ears and shook her head, and Clark, who was also on the sideline at that time, popped from her seat and held up three fingers. As for Mitchell, she was as chill as the “Many Men (Wish Death)” snippet that plays throughout Gainbridge Fieldhouse anytime she makes a highlight.

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“I think my teammates know that about me,” Mitchell said. “I don’t have too much emotion.”

Every team can use a metronome like Mitchell. Especially when firecrackers fill the roster.

Some friendly advice for Clark and Aliyah Boston: Stay away from poker. Those two can’t hide their feelings of angst, irritation and utter shock anytime an official blows a whistle against them. On the flip side, they’d both kill in charades. Especially if either player had to act out the phrase: “Frustrated Basketball Player Who Thinks She’s Never Committed a Foul. Like, Ever.”

While defending the Dream, two different times Boston twirled her index finger toward the bench, pleading with the coaching staff to call for a review of her fouls. (They didn’t.) Going into the intermission, and also coming out of halftime, Boston initiated a respectful yet lively conversation with the same official, in which she spoke while demonstrating with her hands. Though Boston didn’t always get her way and finished with five fouls, she also swatted down three shots and remained out of foul trouble to contribute 19 points with three made triples.

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For the night, Clark finished with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, with eight assists and seven rebounds. Scattered through her poor shooting night, Clark had some nice plays: A behind-the-back dribble and sidestep to her left for a 3 in front of Dream guard Allisha Gray, followed up with a fast-break assist to Mitchell cutting that sparked her teammate’s heater. However, the real show happened whenever Clark heard a whistle.

She was pegged for four fouls, but after the third one, Clark was so furious that she, too, wanted justice.

“Oh, my God! Review that s—!” Clark yelled, while making the twirly finger gesture for the Fever sideline to avenge her defense.

(They didn’t.)

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In light of the Portland sideline video, as well as clips making the rounds on social media that show Clark arguing calls, her body language has come under more scrutiny. So before the game, I asked Clark about it. In a thoughtful response, Clark acknowledged the space for self-improvement but also defended her intensity.

“I think it’s something I can always work on. You go back, you look at the mirror, and I’m competitive and I have an edge, and I think at the same time it’s what makes me great. But it’s not something you always love, too,” Clark said. “I think there are ways to learn and channel it and make it better. But at the same time, I think that competitive fire and that drive and that passion, that joy and that edge, that’s what people come to watch. That’s what they love. It’s not always going to be pretty — and look at some of the best players in the world or some of the best players who have ever played this game, and they’re fierce. They’re fiery. They’re competitive.

“Sometimes they maybe cross the line, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. That doesn’t make you a bad teammate. You go back and you reflect and you take accountability and you find ways to channel that, and you use that to motivate your team or motivate yourself, or get the crowd behind you,” Clark continued. “I don’t think there’s ever a point in your career where you stop reflecting on how to get better, whether that’s in your leadership or whether that’s in your play. I think for myself there’s always ways to get better, so absolutely I’m always going back and reflecting.”