Megan Rapinoe offered brutally honest advice to Fever about foul complaints

The Indiana Fever dropped a close one to the New York Liberty last Saturday, with the last possession for the Fever resulting in a steal at the hands of Natasha Cloud on Caitlin Clark.

Of course, Clark and the Fever had a different view on that steal. They felt that was a critical no-call in crunch time, just as they felt the call on Lexie Hull on the other end of the floor prior to this possession was not an actual foul. That foul led to Sabrina Ionescu landing at the free throw line to sink the Liberty's game-winning two points.

Their complaints were loud and clear: they felt like they didn't get a fair share of calls in that game or past ones. Those comments fell in the lap of another women's sports star, Megan Rapinoe, who spoke about them on her podcast with WNBA legend Sue Bird "A Touch More with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe."

"You don't want to become the girl, the team, the coach, the player who cries wolf all the time," Rapinoe explained. "It's just like, constant. And, like, to what end? And I think especially around this Fever team, and especially around Caitlin, this has like been a thing. It was a thing last year. Sometimes you just have to play through it and earn a little bit more respect."

She added, "I feel like constantly having that narrative doesn't do your team or you really any good. Obviously, you have to go to bat for your team and whatever, but I'm just kind of like, it's too much. I think it's too much, constantly asking for fouls all the time, it's just annoying and I feel like you get less fouls."

Clark and Fever's complaints aren't doing them "any favors," according to Rapinoe

“I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us these last few games,” said head coach Stephanie White after their loss to the Liberty. “A minus-31 free throw discrepancy (over three games) — I might be able to understand that if we’re chucking 3s, but we’re not. We’re attacking the rim. The disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable. It’s disappointing that it doesn’t go both ways, but we can’t allow that to consume us."

READ MORE: Fever must avoid being Sun's savior in second game without Caitlin Clark

White was eventually fined for her comments by the league, clarifying after to the team's loss to the Mystics that she doesn't feel like there's more "intentionally rough play" than normal basketball being played, and what she really wants to see is "consistency" in the officiating of games.

Rapinoe has a point - no one likes seeing inconsistency in officiating, but it happens to teams pretty frequently in the WNBA. And, the Fever, for what it's worth, draw the second-most fouls per game of any team in the league right now. They get 21.4 per game, only behind the Mystics.

So yes, it's great to see White standing up for her team and one of her stars. But, Rapinoe's advice should be taken into some consideration.

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