Caitlin Clark, Fever outmatched in home opener
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — It was another tough game for Caitlin Clark. Like the first game of her WNBA career, she struggled. She had just nine points while shooting 2-8 from the field and 1-7 from beyond the arc.
The rest of the Fever team also could not find a rhythm, and they dropped their home opener 102-66 to the New York Liberty.
Despite the lack of points, there was one big positive from Clark in Thursday’s game: the turnovers. She had 10 in the regular season opener on Tuesday, but just three on Thursday. She also picked up six assists, which was the tied for the most in the game.
In her first game, it took Clark almost 15 minutes to get her first bucket. She got her first points in the first two minutes of the game on a crafty floater in traffic. However, she did not make another shot until there were less than two minutes left in the third quarter. She hit a smooth step-back three-pointer, flashing the brilliance that she’s shown for so long. She just couldn’t do it consistently through her first two games.
Clark was not made available to the media after the game.
“People are playing her hard,” Katie Lou Samuelson said. “People are playing her aggressively. We can do a better job of trying to help her get some space and help her get some freedom.”
“She’s going to be fine,” Christie Sides said. “She’s figuring it out. She just needs to get a little bit of confidence right now. I think she’s taking some shots that she normally would knock down.”
The rest of the Fever struggled mightily. Aliyah Boston shot just 33% from the field on 15 attempts. As a team, they shot just 36.7% from the floor and only made five of their 19 three-point attempts.
Boston talked after the game about how they can improve offensively.
“Just being able to have more spacing,” she said. “Because when we had spacing it was obvious, we were able to get to the basket, we we’re able to create our own shot.
They went on a run 12-0 run to end the third quarter, cutting the lead to 11 heading into the final 10 minutes. It got the sold-out crowd of 17,274 involved, with Gainbridge Fieldhouse rocking and bringing energy. Clark scored seven of those 12 points. But, the momentum was not sustained. They got blitzed in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 35-10 in the final frame.
Breanna Stewart dominated the Fever, putting up 31 points and leading all scorers in the game for the Liberty.
For the second straight game, the Fever were outshot by a large margin. On Thursday, it was an 18-shot deficit. On Tuesday, it was 16.
“We will give the crowd more energy than we gave tonight overall,” Samuelson said. “I think we can give them as much as they’re giving to us. So, that’s something that will never happen again.”
The Fever will now travel to New York to face the Liberty again on Saturday at 1 p.m.