After its 89-77 loss versus the Seattle Storm on Thursday night, Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides was asked if she wants rookie guard Caitlin Clark to shoot more or if she feels like Clark isn’t taking enough shots.
“Yeah, Caitlin Clark needs to shoot a minimum of 15 shots a game for us. I mean, she’s got to get shots. We’ve got to do a better job of setting her up and setting some really good screens for her to get her open.
“The way people guard her, it’s tough, because she’s getting red-ed. So, once the ball is out of her hands, she’s setting the rest of our team up for some really great looks, but, when we’re not able to finish those, we’ve got to make sure we’re going back and trying to get her back to that ball, getting that ball back in her hands at times,” Sides said.
Clark finished with 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range in the loss versus the Storm. The Iowa alum also added seven assists and six rebounds.
As ESPN’s Michael Voepel noted, Clark is leading all WNBA rookies in scoring (16.2 points per game), assists per game (6.6), field goals made per game (4.9) and field goals attempted per game (12.2).
Still, Aliyah Boston, NaLyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell each attempted more shots than Clark in the loss at the Storm. Plus, Clark is just 20th in the league in field goals attempted per game.
Sides discussed the challenge of trying to create shots for Clark and how the Fever balance whether to have Clark on- or off-ball.
“The way teams play her, if she gets a ball screen, they’re just going to do everything to take it out of her hands. They’re going to red her. I mean, that’s what she’s getting every single time. She’s getting some pretty good looks when she’s off the ball. We like her on the ball, so we’ve just got to figure out how to manage the two,” Sides said.
The Fever are continuing to figure more out about themselves and how this personnel all fits together. Aside from shooting the basketball, it’s been clear that teammates are still acclimating to how Clark shares the basketball.
Sides was asked about Clark’s passing after the contest versus Seattle.
“Talk about it all the time that she’s a hell of a passer. She sees windows, she sees open teammates before they realize they’re open. I think sometimes we just got to be ready.
“I think she came up a couple times and we just got to be ready for those passes. We’ve got to make harder cuts where she sees it, but we also have to know when some of those passes aren’t there, like I have all the confidence in the world for her to just hold onto it and then make a second action out of it,” Sides said.
Clark and the Fever (7-12) return to action on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT at Phoenix (9-8) on ESPN.
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