Caitlin Clark's fans rallied to attack coach Stephanie White after Fever's blowout loss to Portland Fire

The Indiana Fever didn't just lose a basketball game on Saturday night.

They've given Caitlin Clark fans full-blown plot ideas to mull over for the next few days (and possibly beyond).

The Fever were blown out by the Portland Fire, 100-84, in a game in which Clark finished with six points on 1-of-7 shooting and had five fouls in just 22 minutes. It was one of the worst nights of Clark's WNBA career, and it came in a game where Indiana didn't look comfortable after the first few minutes.

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But the box score isn't what sent Fever fans into a frenzy.

It was head coach Stephanie White.

Specifically, it was White's decision to pull Clark, Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull midway through the first quarter after Indiana jumped out to an 8-2 lead. Portland quickly turned the game around with a 19-4 run, and the Fever never really recovered.

On Sunday morning, many of Clark's fans at X weren't the only ones criticizing White's shift. Others accused him of trying to destroy Clark.

To be clear, there is no evidence that White is trying to undermine Caitlin Clark on purpose. That's internet theory, not fact.

But this is also what happens when the WNBA's biggest star is pulled while her team is in flux, the game changes quickly, and the coach's explanation doesn't satisfy the onlookers.

After the game, White was asked why he switched in the first place. He said Boston is on a minutes limit and that Clark's removal was part of Indiana's regular rotation.

“That's been our normal rotation pattern,” White said.

White added that Indiana didn't follow that pattern last game against Golden State because the staff didn't want Raven Johnson in that position without a ball carrier on the floor.

That description didn't cool the Fever fans down.

One user wrote, “Hats off to you Stephanie White, it takes a lot of skill to coach this bad, no challenges, no timeouts left at the end of the 4th quarter, no T'd up in protest of shady refs…nothing.”

Another post that got likes said, “Stephanie White never took responsibility for losing when she coached the Indiana Fever.”

A third fan went even further, writing that “Stephanie White has never been a good coach” and saying, “To White, Clark is the enemy.”

Others simply said that White should be fired.

That may sound extreme, and it is. But the frustration wasn't limited to bot-looking accounts with no profile pictures and less than 10 followers. Posts criticizing White's coaching decisions, rotations and accountability took a real toll on all of Clark's X-heavy corners after the blowout.

The timing of the first quarter change was one of the biggest issues.

Indiana opened strong. Clark was down. Boston was down. Hull was down. Then all three went out, and Portland took over quickly.

White can identify patterns and minute limits, and there is a basketball logic to Boston's handling of the load. But when you're coaching Clark, “it's what we usually do” won't sit well if the move helps turn an 8-2 lead into a double-digit deficit.

That's true of Caitlin Clark's experience.

Aliyah Boston chats with Caitlin Clark on the bench during the second half of the game between the Indiana Fever and the Portland Fire. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)

All changes are classified. Each timeout is judged. Every late injury report is a hoax. Every side conversation becomes body language and lip reading analysis.

And Saturday night gave fans plenty to do.

Clark also ran into foul trouble, which limited White's options. White said after the game that Portland did a good job attacking the matchups, forcing Indiana to rotate and creating foul problems for the Fever's primary ball handlers.

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But that only fueled another part of the criticism.

Several fans pointed out that White didn't challenge the calls to Clark that might have helped him get out of trouble. A few bad calls against Clark are borderline, at best. That frustration only grew because Indiana didn't capitalize on all of its challenges or timeouts in the game, leaving fans wondering why White didn't do more to protect his star guard when the problem became a big problem.

Clark did not blame the officials.

“Official wasn't our problem today,” Clark said.

He also admitted that he needs to defend better without being offensive, saying that he needs to do a better job of staying upright, keeping his consistency in front of him and moving his feet when teams are chasing the ball.

So, no, this was not all for White. Clark struggled. Indiana defended poorly. Portland shot it well and played with more urgency. Clark himself said Indiana's rotation was “slow” during Portland's big third quarter.

White also expressed urgency after the game, saying that the Fever must be more active, careful and anticipatory when moving around defensively.

But the fans are not looking at the film's decline after the loss of the blout.

They are looking for someone to blame.

And after Saturday night, that someone was White.

Fever fans flooded social media with conspiracy theories accusing coach Stephanie White of underestimating Caitlin Clark after Indiana's loss to Portland. (Bobby Goddin/Getty Images)

The drama got even louder when a short side video started doing the rounds on X. The clip appears to show White animating Clark during Fever. Then, apparently, White tells Clark to get out of his position and put in Raven Johnson. Some users claim that the video is AI generated because of the blue thing near the end of the clip that looks strange to them.

Some pushed back and argued that the blue thing was just Clark's bench seat, not some AI thing.

OutKick updated the clip. From the available video, it looks like a normal compressed side image, not an obvious AI build. That does not prove that all captions or translations attached to them are accurate, nor does it confirm what is said in the huddle.

In other words, the video is not evidence of the Clark-White argument.

It's proof that a bad loss and a seemingly tense clip and fans getting mad at the coach is the perfect recipe for WNBA internet chaos.

There were also fans who were defending White. One post pushed back against the idea that he's a bad coach, pointing to his past accomplishments, including a WNBA Finals appearance with Indiana in 2015 and his 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year award with the Connecticut Sun.

That's right.

White has a strong and long coaching CV. He has won the league. He didn't forget the basics of basketball because Indiana lost a road game in Portland.

But coaching Clark is different.

Clark is the central business driver for the Fever and, in many ways, the entire WNBA. If they score six points and Indiana gets kicked out of the gym by the expansion team, fans won't just chalk it up to one bad night and move on with their lives.

White doesn't have to build his training strategy because people on social media don't like it. He clearly knows more about basketball and his program than random people shouting on the internet.

That being said, White needs to understand the job better. He is no longer coaching the 2015 version of the Indiana Fever. This is not the 2024 Connecticut sun. This is a team with a major league star, and the job comes with more responsibility than White has likely faced in his coaching career, whether he realizes it or not.

Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark reacts after being called during the first half against the Portland Fire. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)

So he should not be surprised when vague explanations, questionable timing and poor results arouse a lot of attention in his team. Sure, he's helped by the fact that the WNBA media largely avoids asking tough questions, but as the attention grows, so will the voices in those rooms.

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The Fever's next game is against the Atlanta Dream, which means Clark and Angel Reese will be sharing the floor again. That similarity just warrants attention.

After Saturday night, White's decisions may be scrutinized as much as the rivalry itself.

The vandalism charge is ridiculous. White gets paid to win games and his career depends on it.

But the fans' frustration is real.

White and Fever has a Caitlin Clark problem at the moment, but it's not like Clark needs to be controlled.

It's because Indiana has the most sought-after player in women's basketball, and the Fever keeps giving fans reason to wonder if the franchise knows exactly what they're doing with her.