Caitlin Clark, from talisman to jinx: she left the stands early... and the Pacers collapsed

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NBA. How Caitlin Clark and Tyrese Haliburton's girlfriend Jade Jones bonded via Indiana basketball scene

Caitlin Clark, the media superstar of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, had been crowned with the honorary title of the Pacers' talisman in these NBA playoffs. In fact, with her on the court, watching the games from the front row of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, her team had an 8-0 record in these championship series.

And in the fourth meeting of the final against the Thunder, she was faithful to her appointment with her team and returned to sit in the front row with two other teammates from the Fever. Her influence seemed to have an effect, as Indiana had a 10-point lead almost at the end of the third quarter (86-76, with 2:05 remaining).

But in the last act, in the midst of the Thunder's comeback and just as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was getting into the swing of things, Caitlin Clark got up from her seat and left the court. Perhaps to avoid the crowds at the end of the game and, as far as possible, to pass as unnoticed as possible among the fans, something really impossible since she has become an icon in Indianapolis.

The fact is that it was her departure that started the Pacers' descent into hell, as they suffered a final 6-16 run and lost the game (104-111). More than one, especially the superstitious, will think that Clark's departure had a lot to do with her team's late collapse. The fact is that she went from being a talisman to being a jinx.

And that's what she had already warned before the game: "I hope they can finish it in the fifth game, because I won't be able to come to the sixth. I'll have to make an appearance tonight," she said, counting on the Pacers to win the fourth game and warning that she would no longer be able to act as a talisman for her team in the sixth, if there was one, as she had to play with the Fever, something she had not done in recent games as she was injured. And the curse was confirmed after leaving early