Here We Go Again folks the Indiana Fever after clawing their way back from a 74 to 62 deficit decided to give the game away on a silver platter and you know who served it up none other than our fearless leader Christy sides with her patented let's throw away the game fourth quarter special I mean if it was an art form she'd be Picasso if it was a dish it'd be Gourmet but it's not art and it sure as heck isn't Gourmet it's just a disaster so there we were down by 12 and suddenly Caitlyn Clark says not on my watch she hits a couple of buckets fires up the crowd and just like that The Fever are on a 10 to two run the fans are losing their minds I'm in the stands talking to VIPs anyone who would listen and all I can say is please for the love of basketball do not let Nelissa Smith or Katie L samlon into this game do not do it I wish I could say I was shocked but I wasn't in what seems to be a recurring nightmare Lexi Hall gets her fifth foul and boom out comes the clown car we subing Katie L Samson the same Katie L Samson who couldn't hit water she fell out of a boat and if that wasn't enough we get the Nelissa Smith Cameo why what has she done to deserve minutes in a one-point game at this point it's 81 to 80 we've got the momentum the crowd is on fire but oh no Christy sides can't help herself she's got to mess with the rotation the result the Minnesota links go on an 18 to eight run and send us home with another L it was like watching a slow motion car crash you know what's coming but you can't look away I could almost forgive the fourth quarter collapse if it wasn't for the typical third quarter disaster that we've come to expect under coach sides I'll score 29 to 12 yes you read that right 29 to 12 I'm talking about the kind of quarter that makes you want to throw your remote at the TV and reconsider your loyalty to the fever the Lings come out on a seven to zero run in Christie she's just standing there arms folded like she's watching a friendly scrimmage by the time she finally calls a timeout the damage is done why wait until we lose the lead to call a timeout Christie did you think the basketball gods were going to intervene now I get it the officiating was terrible Minnesota Shot 25 free throws to our 13 and some of those calls were downright criminal Lexi Hall Aaliyah Boston even Kelsey Mitchell everybody was getting hit with foul trouble but here's the thing the refs didn't blow this game they didn't Sub in Nelissa Smith when the game was on the line they didn't let the links go on a 14 to zero run to start the third quarter nope that was all Christie let's talk about the players who actually showed up Caitlyn Clark had 25 points six rebounds five assists she did everything short of pulling out a magic wand to try and get this win Kelsey Mitchell added 23 and Aaliyah Boston had 20 points they were balling doing what they needed to do to keep us in the game despite the refs and despite the coaching but when your coach insists on trotting out players like Nelissa Smith and Katie lose samelson in crunch time what are you supposed to do Samuelson hit a three earlier in the game sure but one three in 19 attempts isn't enough to convince anyone she should be out there in the fourth and Nelissa one for five why is she even in the game I I need answers someone make this make sense to me you can we talk about how Christy sides got named coach of the month I'm sorry but how the links had the same record as us this month and yet sides gets the award over Cher reev please sides can't manage a fourth quarter let alone an entire month coach of the month more like blown lead of the month the real issue isn't the referees or even the links the real issue is Christy Sid's inability to make in game adjustments she's like a broken clock right twice a day but wrong the rest of the time you can't expect to win games let alone playoff games if your coach is more of a cheerleader than a tactician we've got the talent Caitlyn Clark Kelsey Mitchell aiyah Boston these are players who can win games but when you're constantly dealing with bad rotations late timeouts and inexplicable substitutions there's only so much you can do the players deserve better the fans deserve better heck the whole organization deserves better than what Christy Sid is giving us right now if this team has any hope of making it past the first round of the playoffs something needs to change and by something I mean everything about Christy side's approach to coaching stop worrying about getting Nelissa Smith and Samson going and focus on winning games we've got the talent to make a deep playoff run but not if we keep tripping over our own feet it's time for Christie to step up or step aside because if she doesn't we'll be watching the playoffs from our couches while other teams with competent coaches move forward