Caitlin Clark scored 21 points and came three rebounds shy of a triple-double as the Indiana Fever won a home game for the first time in three outings this season by beating the Seattle Storm 89-78 on Sunday night at Indianapolis.

Clark compiled 10 assists by early in the fourth quarter in a game that the Fever controlled from the early minutes.

Kelsey Mitchell and reserve Sophie Cunningham both finished with 17 points for the Fever (2-2), who overcame 20 turnovers.

Clark made all nine of her free-throw attempts as part of the Fever’s 22-for-22 shooting at the foul line. Clark also led Indiana with two blocked shots.

Indiana’s Aliyah Boston (lower leg) missed the first game of her four-year career.

Natisha Hiedeman poured in 19 points, Flau’jae Johnson posted 14 points, Zia Cooke had 13 points off the bench and Jade Melbourne added 12 points for the Storm (1-3), who shot 6-for-23 on 3-point attempts.

Seattle, which trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, made a mini-surge in the final minutes, closing to within 89-77 on Hiedeman’s 3-pointer with about 2½ minutes to play. There wasn’t another made field goal in the game.

Indiana took a double-digit lead about five minutes into the game, scored 32 first-quarter points and went on to lead 55-44 at halftime. Clark had 17 points, boosted by a pair of 3s, by the break.

The Storm were held to six points across the first five minutes of the third quarter. They also had trouble cranking out points in the fourth quarter and they trailed 83-65 with less than six minutes to play.

The Fever put a big emphasis on defense after shortcomings at that end of the court in their first three games. They held the Storm to less than 20 points in the first and third quarters.

Seattle had allowed 77 points through three quarters and that was more than the Storm scored in their most-recent game in an 86-73 loss Wednesday at Toronto.

–Field Level Media

Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been voted the NBA Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season, the league announced Sunday night.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the 14th player in league history to win back-to-back MVPs. He is the first player to win consecutive MVP awards since Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and the first guard to win consecutive MVPs since Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Gilgeous-Alexander received 83 first-place votes and won handily with 939 points in balloting by a panel of 100 voters who cover the NBA.

Jokic received 10 first-place votes and finished second in the balloting with 634 points. Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs was third with 589 points and five first-place votes.

Signed to a four-year, $273.3 million super maximum contract extension in the offseason, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 68 games (all starts) this season as Oklahoma City went 64-18 and compiled the best record in the NBA.

Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player since legendary Wilt Chamberlain (1963-64) to score 20-plus points in every regular-season game, with a minimum of 50 games played. He also broke Chamberlain’s record of 126 straight 20-plus point efforts and his streak stands at 140 entering next season.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, is averaging 25.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 boards in 530 career games (521 starts) with the Los Angeles Clippers (2018-19) and Thunder.

The guard led the Thunder to their first NBA championship last year. Aiming for back-to-back titles, Oklahoma City will open play in the Western Conference final on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs.

Gilgeous-Alexander joins Steve Nash as the only Canadians to earn the NBA MVP award. Nash also won twice, in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons with the Phoenix Suns.

The other players to win at least two MVP awards are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six times), Bill Russell (five), Michael Jordan (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four), LeBron James (four), Larry Bird (three), Magic Johnson (three), Moses Malone (three), Bob Pettit (two), Karl Malone (two), Tim Duncan (two) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (two).

Kevin Durant (2013-14 season) and Russell Westbrook (2016-17) also won MVPs while wearing Thunder uniforms.

Jokic, a three-time MVP, averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists in 65 regular-season games (all starts).

Wembanyama, who unanimously won Defensive Player of the Year honors, averaged a career-best 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds and led the league with 3.1 blocks per game.

NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers finished fourth in the voting (250 points), Cade Cunningham (117) of the Detroit Pistons was fifth and Jaylen Brown (89) of the Boston Celtics placed sixth.

–Field Level Media

The Oklahoma City Thunder were dominant for most of the season, posting the NBA’s best record for the second consecutive season.

But the Thunder struggled against the San Antonio Spurs, dropping four of the five meetings during the regular season.

On Monday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder open the Western Conference finals against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in Oklahoma City.

It’s the first NBA playoff series between teams with 60 or more wins since 2017 and the first between teams with 62 or more wins since the 1998 NBA Finals between Chicago and Utah.

“It’s fitting because both teams earned their way here,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “… It’s a team we have a ton of respect for. We know what they’re capable of. It’s an opponent that is incredibly worthy.”

Thunder reserve big man Jaylin Williams said the regular-season results don’t mean much now.

“The playoffs is such a different monster,” Williams said. “It’s a different game. You’re never playing a team this many times in a row in the regular season. The calls are different, guys play harder, the defense is different, offense is different, everything is different. So it’s a whole different game.”

Oklahoma City has had a week between games, finishing off a sweep of the Lakers on May 11. The Thunder are 8-0 in the playoffs, winning by an average of more than 16 points per game.

San Antonio is coming off a six-game series win over Minnesota after needing five games to dispatch Portland in the first round.

“Just the words ‘conference finals,’ it’s crazy,” Wembanyama said. “It’s like something I heard my whole life. Now being in it is just special.”

While Wembanyama played in the games against Oklahoma City in the regular season, he came off the bench for each of the three wins over the Thunder during a 13-day stretch in December.

Wembanyama was working his way back from a calf strain, and upon his return came off the bench for the first seven games before returning to the starting lineup.

In his first playoff run, Wembanyaa is averaging 20.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.1 blocks and 2.4 assists.

The Spurs have been pretty healthy during their run to the Western Conference finals.

Oklahoma City has been without All-Star guard Jalen Williams since he sustained a hamstring injury in Game 2 of the first round.

In an Instagram video posted Friday, Williams said he was ready to return.

“I’m about to go into another series healthy,” Williams said.

Williams wasn’t listed on the injury report ahead of Game 1.

San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox (ankle) and Luke Kornet (foot) are listed as questionable.

While Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season Sunday, has led the way for Oklahoma City, Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell have been critical pieces for this playoff run.

Holmgren, in particular, figures to be key in this series as the Thunder try to slow Wembanyama. Wembanyama won NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors while Holmgren finished second. Holmgren is averaging 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.4 steals and 1.3 assists in the postseason.

San Antonio is in the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2017 and is looking for its first NBA Finals berth since winning the 2014 title.

Oklahoma City is looking to become the first back-to-back NBA champion since Golden State in 2017-18.

“It’s going to be a hard-fought series — very physical, two teams with high aspirations,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “They’re playing really well right now. We’re playing really well right now. We’re in each other’s way of going to the finals, so I think it’ll be a good series.”

–Field Level Media