{"id":317396,"date":"2025-10-02T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/317396\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:38:11","slug":"pacers-coach-rick-carlisle-pays-fevers-stephanie-white-the-ultimate-compliment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/317396\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers coach Rick Carlisle pays Fever’s Stephanie White the ultimate compliment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle heralded Indiana Fever\u2019s<\/a> Stephanie White for putting forth \u201cone of the greatest coaching jobs\u201d that he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Fever\u2019s injury-riddled season came to an official close after Indiana lost in overtime to the Las Vegas Aces<\/a>, 107-98, in Game 5 of the WNBA Semifinals.<\/p>\n

The fact that the Fever managed to fall one game shy of making the Finals is a feat in and of itself considering how depleted their team had become. Star guard Caitlin Clark was ineligible to compete in the WNBA playoffs<\/a> upon being left off the postseason roster, while 2025 All Star Kelsey Mitchell was forced to exit the contest in the third quarter<\/a> due to extreme cramping.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carlisle commended White for successfully navigating the series of obstacles en route to making a deep run in the postseason. \u201cI want to congratulate the Fever,\u201d he began. <\/p>\n

READ MORE:Napheesa Collier delivers damning 4-minute statement torching WNBA and Cathy Engelbert<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:Angel Reese gets straight to the point as Napheesa Collier torches WNBA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulate Stephanie [White] and Kelly [Krauskopf] and their team for just for a monumental run. I mean, they embody everything that Indiana basketball is about. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe grit, the guts and everything else, it was amazing to watch, and they were right there. Sad that it ended, but an amazing run and one of the greatest coaching jobs I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were right there. It was amazing to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell and Clark<\/a> \u2014 who was limited to 13 games total while battling left quad and groin injuries, as well as a bone bruise in her left ankle \u2014 were far from the only Fever players to go down with health setbacks this year. <\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/img.particlenews.com\/image.php?url=23BslD_15Hs7u6j00\"<\/p>\n

Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald suffered season-ending foot and ACL injuries on August 7, respectively, while Sophie Cunningham tore the MCL in her right knee following a collision with Bria Hartley<\/a> ten days later. <\/p>\n

Forward Chloe Bibby, meanwhile, was ruled out for the remainder of the 2025 campaign with a left knee injury on September 4.<\/p>\n

On the heels of the Fever\u2019s semifinal exit, White praised Indiana\u2019s resilience and ability to overcome the myriad of roadblocks put in their way this season. \u201cThis group is all heart. Man, it\u2019s just really hard to put into words. They\u2019re just special,\u201d she said while struggling to fight back her emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been an absolute joy to coach. It\u2019s an incredible group of women, an incredibly connected group. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a great example to everybody of what it means to just put one foot in front of the other, to persevere, to welcome people into the fold, to not give into circumstance, to lead with grace and dignity, to sacrifice for the greater good and common good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so thankful to coach these women, and I\u2019m just thankful for this experience with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle heralded Indiana Fever\u2019s Stephanie White for putting forth \u201cone of the greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,4500,113,126,3866,2679,6,5241,114,51196,40127],"class_list":{"0":"post-317396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-indiana","11":"tag-indiana-pacers","12":"tag-indianapacers","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-newsbreak","16":"tag-pacers","17":"tag-pacers-coach-rick-carlisle-pays-fevers-stephanie-white-the-ultimate-compliment","18":"tag-the-mirror-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115305323370521277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}