When Caitlin first returned from injury and the Indiana Fever had back-to-back wins that were quite impressive to see including handing New York their first loss of the season, there was a lot of hyped up people out there that the Fever were going to go on a run all the way to the playoffs and show the WNBA what they are truly capable of.
Well that lasted for just a couple of games and then we get to see that while Caitlin is very very good, she is subject to being hot or cold as well. The bad things about when CC starts to have a bad night is that it seems, apparently, that the rest of the team kind of follows suit and the coach doesn't really have anyone to sub in for her either.
CC is still drawing the crowds big time and I reckon that isn't going to change, and this includes when the Fever go on the road to distant Las Vegas to play the Aces. It was a highly anticipated game because both teams had a similar record going into this one and with a win the Fever could put themselves into a more than 50% winning percentage. But alas, they did not win. In fact, it was a pretty frustrating display to watch as nearly the entire Fever roster was ice-cold as their perimeter game just couldn't come together and as a team they shot 26% from 3 pointers.
To make matters worse, Caitlin, who really impresses everyone with her usual ability to be able to drain shots from almost anywhere including well beyond the WNBA 3-point range, shot 1-10 on 3's and 7-20 overall. Before we come down on her for missing too much, just know there were 23 team attempts at 3's and they only made 6 of them.
Out of everyone on the Indiana side only 2 players shot better than 50% and they were Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. Ok, that's not entirely true because Howard shot 3-4 but well, she only attempted 4 shots total so I skipped that.
Now in Caitlin's defense she did have 10 assists and that is always a good thing and shows that she is not trying to pad her own stats but is working towards a overall team victory. However, as someone watching the game that really doesn't like when CC shoots cold, it did kind of appear after a while that she had lost confidence and each time she attempted, and almost always missed, a 3-pointer that she was getting increasingly frustrated.
Her spot on the left wing that seems to be her "sweet spot" and she routinely drains those even with 2 sets of arms in her face... well not tonight she didn't.
To add more misery to her stats Clark also had 10 turnovers and just like is usually the case, most of these came from where she was trying to make "magical passes" that just didn't work.
Nobody expects anyone, even Clark, to make ALL of their 3 pointers, but going 1-10 is really bad and kind of begs the question as to why the strategy didn't evolve to go in a different direction. The 3 point attempts from rage started early in the game, just 34 seconds in and the continued all the way until 7 minutes into the 4th quarter.
I know this will sound like me being a "monday morning quarterback" but as a coach, when your perimeter star has missed the same shot 8 times, almost all of which loses possession, do you not at least consider a different approach to the game.
While she is a forward and it isn't really her job, wouldn't it make sense to perhaps design a few more plays to utilize Lexie Hull a bit more frequently from 3? I mean, the other team wouldn't be expecting it and they very much expect Caitlin to be launching 3's constantly. It's just an idea.
I am sure that this weighs heavily on Caitlin's mind as she has been propelled into a position of team leader in just her 2nd season in the WNBA. When the play against Seattle on Tuesday night it will be interesting to see if she can rebound from this and she better, because every single time this season when Caitlin has had an off night, the Fever lose. There unfortunately isn't much depth to the Fever roster and they do seem to be quite dependent on her never coming off of a hot streak. I was hopeful that the games they had to play without her would teach Indiana how to sub her out, but at least up to now, that doesn't seem to be the case.
I don't claim to know it all, i am just a fan who reads into post-game stats. Let me know how you feel in the comments!