At times, it’s felt like Caitlin Clark and this Indiana Fever team are getting baptized by fire during her rookie season.
After collecting a 71-70 victory at the Chicago Sky on Saturday, Sunday evening in Brooklyn proved to be a night to quickly erase for Clark and the Fever.
In its third matchup of the season against last season’s WNBA runners-up, the New York Liberty handed Clark and the Fever another painful indoctrination to the best that the league has to offer. The Liberty rolled away from the Fever in a lopsided affair, 104-68.
Sunday night felt and looked a lot like the home opener for the Fever against the Liberty where New York blitzed Indiana, 102-66, on May 16. Clark shot just 2-of-8 from the floor and 1-of-7 from 3-point distance in that May 16 loss.
On Sunday night, it was even tougher sledding than that. Clark finished just 1-of-10 shooting overall, knocking down 1-of-7 3-point tries. The 6-foot rookie guard finished with just three points, registering her lowest point total and field goal percentage during both her time in the WNBA (11 games) and college (139 games at Iowa).
Sunday’s game against the Liberty was the 150th that Caitlin Clark has played since the beginning of her college career.
Her 3 points and 10% FG shooting were both her worst in any of those 150 games. pic.twitter.com/ynFh8wNWup
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2024
Clark did finish with five assists to lead the Fever in that category again. She has now led or co-led the Fever in assists in all 11 games this season, extending the second-longest such streak to start a career in WNBA history (Ticha Penicheiro, 26).
“I think collectively, as a team, we understand who kind of the head of the monster is on that team, and we are trying to just make everything tough and difficult,” Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said of Clark. “Obviously, they came off a back-to-back, so it’s a little bit tough for them, as well. But she’ll figure it out. It’s not that big of a deal to have a game like that.”
The Fever will get some much-needed practice time and rest before resuming play on Friday at the Washington Mystics. Indiana just completed a grueling stretch of 11 games in 20 days to open up the 2024 WNBA season.
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