After achieving success in Iowa’s collegiate basketball games, Caitlin Clark came to the WNBA to make a name for herself in the big league. When she played her first home-court game in Indiana colors both her former college coaches, Lisa Bluder and her successor, Jan Jensen, extended their support for the point guard.
As per The New York Times report, there was a crowd of 17,274 people at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse to witness the game between Indiana Fever and NY Liberty, and the two head coaches were among them. While people mostly turned up to watch the 22-year-old work her magic in the regular season’s first-ever home game, they were left disappointed as the team faced a hammering 66-102 loss.
Many eyes were on Clark, who, despite being one of the standout players, struggled to perform. The Liberty defense had successfully slowed her down and that helped them in many ways to hold back the Indiana offense.
This was the second game for the Fever, and they recorded back-to-back losses, the first one being against the Connecticut Sun on May 14. Clark scored 20 points in that game but was beaten 71-92 and the loss on Thursday proved that the 6-footer is having a rocky start to her WNBA career.
Caitlin Clark’s Tough Start to WNBA Career
Caitlin Clark in her glittery new Fever jersey failed to impress the Gainbridge crowd on Thursday. The No. 1 pick could only manage to put up 9 points on the scoreboard coupled with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Clark tried to hit 8 shots from the floor but most of them stubbornly refused to go through the rim and only 2 hit the target.
Clark and her teammates knew that going against Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, the reigning MVP, who had a double-double contribution of 31 points and 10 rebounds in the game, was no easy task.
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Her highly-anticipated WNBA debut against the Sun also went horribly wrong, with Clark making history in the worst way possible. The back-to-back losses for the former undisputed queen of the NCAA are raising questions about whether Caitlin is ready for a smooth transition among the stars of the WNBA.
Though there is still a lot of opportunity for the home team to pick up their game from here. The upcoming one is against the same opponents in a rematch on May 19, when the Fever will go down the road to the Barclays Center, hopefully with a different strategy that could hand the former college basketball phenom her first win in the WNBA.
