Before the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark lost to the Liberty on Saturday, head coach Christie Sides lamented their poor ball screens — referencing how the Fever only made contact on 46 percent, while the Liberty, Sides said, connected with an opposing player on 72 percent.
And late in the first quarter, Breanna Stewart made Sides’ praise of the Liberty screens seem warranted.
Clark collided with Stewart and crumbled to the court with 3:35 remaining in the opening frame, with Courtney Vandersloot dribbling to her left.
Vandersloot had initially hesitated and faked that she would dribble to the right and toward the screen that Jonquel Jones had started to set, but instead, she went back to the left and found some more space after Clark fell.
The possession occurred after Clark sank her second 3-pointer of the first quarter — the best quarter of her professional career so far — and pulled the Fever within seven, but the Liberty ended the sequence with Stewart, the reigning WNBA MVP who led all scorers Sunday with 24 points, connecting on a shot to extend their lead in an eventual 91-80 win.
Clark’s three regular-season games since becoming the No. 1 overall pick have featured some positives and some growing pains, and on Sunday, she scored 22 points — her season-high — and added eight assists along with six rebounds.
She committed eight turnovers, though, and through three games, Clark sits last in the WNBA with 21 turnovers — nine more than the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas, who has accounted for the second-most in the league with 12.
their third consecutive game to start the 2024 season. Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
Still, Clark thought that she had “produced some really good stuff” in the Fever’s 36-point loss Thursday during their home opener against the Liberty at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and those gradual strides carried over into Sunday’s game as her adjustment to the professional level continued.
“I thought I just came out and like just played harder, and I think that’s gonna be just my biggest focus going forward — just come out and compete and play hard,” Clark told reporters Saturday. “I thought our whole group did that. … I think our pace, the way we pushed the ball up the floor, that’s just hard to guard. I thought it wore them out a little bit, but also like caused a few matchup problems and we were able to get into a little bit of a flow at the beginning.”
Clark and the Fever will aim for their first win Monday when they host the Sun, while the Liberty will attempt to secure the team’s first 4-0 start since 2007 — a campaign they began with five consecutive wins — when the Seattle Storm travel to Barclays Center on Monday.