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The great ones always respond.
Caitlin Clark struggled in her first WNBA playoff game last Sunday: 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-13 from 3, and Indiana got blown out. How would Clark respond with her team facing elimination.
Clark finished Game 2 with 25 points, nine assists and six rebounds — she bounced back. Like the greats always do.
It wasn’t enough.
Connecticut’s depth and suffocating defense proved too much again — particularly in the clutch when Connecticut got stops and hit three consecutive 3-pointers — and the Sun advanced with an 87-81 win.
That victory advances Connecticut to the semifinals starting this weekend — this is six straight years the Sun have made it to at least the semifinals, an impressive streak of high-level consistency. The game sends Clark and the Fever home until next year (exiting the playoffs without a home game). Clark had said previously that because the college season runs almost straight into the WNBA season she hasn’t had a real break for about a year and she was not going to play competitively this winter. After the game, she said she didn’t know what her plans were.
The Fever entered this postseason with five starters who had never started a WNBA playoff game before. Indiana learned some hard lessons in the face of Connecticut, which is a threat to advance, maybe all the way to the Finals, because of their league-best defense.
It’s was also a learning curve for Caitlin Clark — Connecticut threw different defensive looks at her all night long, different defenders and systems, and it was a chess match for her trying to figure it out.
To her credit, even when her 3s were not falling (3-of-12) she found a way to impact the offense, her Clark’s drives and passing led the Fever offense Wednesday night. However, she and backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell played a full 40 minutes — not one break — and it started to show late as they both seemed a little gassed.
It also felt like a playoff game, with things getting a little chippy between Clark and DeWanna Bonner (Clark also was jawing with a fan in the first quarter, one security went and spoke to).
Clark hit…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/caitlin-clark-responds-25-points-023039971.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-09-26 02:30:39
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