Shortly after being named the unanimous 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Yr, Caitlin Clark delivered a dud in her postseason debut. However the Indiana Fever star is not panicking.
After the Fever dropped Sport 1 of their three-game opening-round collection in opposition to the Connecticut Solar, 93-69, Clarke owned her poor efficiency.
“I felt like I obtained good photographs. They simply did not go down,” Clark said via Matthew Byrne of Clutch Sports. “Clearly, a tricky time for that to occur.”
The 2024 No. 1 decide completed with solely 11 factors, capturing 4-of-17 from the sector and 2-of-13 from three-point vary. Regardless of loads of appears, Clark struggled to discover a rhythm, particularly from past the arc, the place she missed her first eight makes an attempt.
Clark would not appear to imagine her unhealthy luck will proceed. In the meantime, Solar ahead DeWanna Bonner, who guarded the younger All-Star for many of the sport, would not both.
“She’s an amazing participant,” Bonner said via Fever reporter Tony East. “I do know subsequent sport she’s going to return out firing.”
Within the first quarter, Clark obtained inadvertently poked within the eye by Solar guard DiJonai Carrington, leading to a noticeable shiner. Although, she did not use that as an excuse for a lackluster outing, telling reporters, “I do not suppose it affected me, actually.”
Maybe most significantly, Clark sounded optimistic about her sport and the workforce’s possibilities to remain alive in opposition to the Solar. Regardless that the Fever fell by 24 factors, she discovered hope in the truth that they battled by way of three quarters, trailing 68-57, earlier than being outscored 25-12 within the fourth.
“We have been proper there,” Clark mentioned. “I felt like we simply performed a crappy sport. The movement of the sport was actually unhealthy.”