Fever fans bash Natalie Esquire for 'laughing' at Caitlin Clark and condemning Sophie Cunningham's foul: "So it’s funny when Mabrey does it" 

Natalie Esquire faced severe scrutiny from Indiana Fever fans after the WNBA analyst seemingly laughed off Caitlin Clark getting shoved by Marina Mabrey. Shortly after, Esquire called out Sophie Cunningham for her harsh foul on Jacy Sheldon, saying it required further review and penalty.

Many Fever fans and the game announcers felt that Mabrey deserved an ejection for shoving Clark to the floor on a dead-ball possession in the third quarter. That was right after the reigning Rookie of the Year was poked in the eye in a physical one-on-one battle with Sheldon.

However, Mabrey and Clark both got a tech, while Sheldon was penalized with a flagrant one. On the other hand, Cunningham fouled Sheldon with less than a minute left in the game, and the Fever was up by 17. As the Sun player attempted a layup in transition, Cunningham brought her down with a hard foul, causing another melee during the tense matchup.

Natalie Esquire's polar opposite reactions to the fouls didn't sit well with Fever fans. Here's what she posted after Clark got shoved:

Natalie Esquire

@natfluential

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😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

And after Cunningham's foul:

Natalie Esquire

@natfluential

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No place in the game for what Sophie Cunningham did. That warrants further review and penalty from the league.

Here's how Fever fans reacted to Natalie Esquire's comments on both situations:

Caitlin Clark By The Numbers

@CCByTheNumbers

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No place in the game for hateful, biased hypocrites like you

BD

@waafootball

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I was searching for you post on Mabrey’s deadball assault on CC but I can’t find it?

JohnGoose

@meeaanyos

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So it’s funny when Mabrey does it but you’re bugging out about Sophie retaliating? What a loser you are

IDK

@idk_logo

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You look so stupid. A hypocrite if I ever seen one. You were just laughing when mabrey shoved Caitlin, but as soon as an indiana player does something its a issue. You're mad weird Blame the refs

Alipo Butao

@AlipoJerome

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Now Natalie, I’d respect you more if you just said both Marina and Sophie incidents warrant further review, but only mentioning the Sophie incident is so disingenuous. At least keep the same energy for both plays. This doesn’t even include the Jacy eye poke💀

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Natalie Esquire supports Jacy Sheldon for attacking Sophie Cunningham

Natalie Esquire gave one more reason to Fever fans for calling her out after voicing her support for Sun player Jacy Sheldon after she attacked Sophie Cunningham following the hard foul. Sheldon got up and charged at Cunningham, grabbing her throat. Despite condemning Cunningham's foul, Esquire backed Sheldon, saying:

Natalie Esquire

@natfluential

LINK

As she should have. Ain’t no way I’m letting that slide if I’m Jacy. At some point we throwin hands.

Here's the video of Sheldon and Cunningham's dust-up:

The clash between the Fever and Sun was the most heated game of the season, with multiple fights breaking out and several non-basketball plays being made. It started in the first quarter after Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon's minor shoving contest before it escalated in the third quarter.

Sophie Cunningham's foul on Sheldon and the aftermath of it were just the tip of the iceberg. However, an incident of this magnitude was brewing all night after the referees allowed that kind of physicality.

Fever coach Stephanie White also lashed out at refs in the post-game interview, saying the officials should have controlled the game better, as it would have avoided these incidents.