SEATTLE, July 30 -- The basketball game was going exactly right for Indiana when it stopped being about basketball. The Fever led the Seattle Storm by 17 after the first quarter at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, and Aliyah Boston had just produced 11 points in fewer than 11 minutes without a missed shot, the kind of start that makes a coach feel comfortable leaving her on the floor through the rest of the half. Then she set a screen, and the night changed.

Boston rolled to the rim on a pick-and-roll with Caitlin Clark in the second quarter, with Storm rookie Flau'jae Johnson reaching in to disrupt the action. The two players got tangled. Boston's momentum carried her forward with nowhere to redirect it. Her right knee hit the hardwood,...