Caitlin Clark Shows Off Elite Passing, But Struggles Shooting Again In Loss To Aces
The Indiana Fever star had 10 assists, but hit just one 3-pointer against Las Vegas
While Caitlin Clark wows fans with her incredible 3-point shooting – from distances previously never seen in the WNBA – it's her passing skills that often go underappreciated. Clark showed off the latter in a tough loss on Sunday against the Las Vegas Aces, but struggled with the former for the second-straight game.
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark piled up the assists, but struggled to shoot the three-pointer in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday.
(Lucas Peltier/Imagn Images)
Early in the contest, Clark was feeding teammates all over the court, leading to easy buckets for the Fever.
Clark had nine assists in the first half and helped Indiana jump out to a 10-point lead in the first 20 minutes and the Fever took a six-point edge into halftime.
However, the inability to shoot the 3-pointer – a staple of Clark's game – really hurt Indiana in the second half. Coming off one of the worst shooting performances of her career (Clark shot 0 for 7 from 3 in a loss against Golden State), the Fever guard struggled again.
Clark shot 1 for 10 from 3 against Las Vegas, making her 1 for 17 over her past two games (6%). In fact, her struggles seemed to dissuade her from taking shots she normally wouldn't hesitate to fire.
Ultimately, Las Vegas defeated Indiana 89-81. Though this game was supposed to represent a duel between Clark and three-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, neither player had her best stuff Sunday.
Wilson did score 24 points, outscoring Clark's 19, but she did a lot of her damage from the free-throw line. The reigning league MVP went 8 for 10 from the charity stripe, but shot 8 of 21 (38%) from the field.
It was Clark's teammate, Aliyah Boston, who led all players with 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Despite the poor shooting effort, Clark still posted a double-double (19 points and 10 assists), for the fourth time this season (eight games). Clark is still the biggest star in the WNBA, by a country mile, and a couple of poor shooting performances aren't going to change that anytime soon.
If anything, it showed that Clark can make a major impact on the court, even when she's not shooting well, by using her elite vision and passing to set up her teammates.