Monday was another brutal night for the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. They faced off against the Connecticut Sun for the third time this season and were blown out 89-72. After the game, head coach Christie Sides tore into her team for the lack of effort they were showing on the court.
The Indiana Fever trailed by as many as 29 points in the game. The Sun jumped out to a 26-15 lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed it to 55-35 by halftime. It was certainly a disappointing performance after the teams played a competitive game in May, which had some people believing the Fever were heading in the right direction.
“I’m going to start with how you can’t, at this level, coach effort,” Christie Sides said to begin her postgame news conference at Mohegan Sun Arena. “I felt like we were just trying to ask them to keep playing hard, play hard. You can’t start there. You can’t play in this league if you have to coach effort. It’s just too hard.”
That is certainly not what a head coach wants as the topic of conversation after a game. Effort is one thing coaches shouldn’t need to be asking their players for, but an young Indiana Fever squad is certainly taking their lumps this season.
A reason for their struggles on Monday night was the Sun being able to neutralize Caitlin Clark. She scored only 10 points, going 3-of-8 from the field, adding only two assists, one steal and zero rebounds with three turnovers.
“This is a team you can’t come out and be lackadaisical against; they’re just that good,” said Clark. “They’re going to punch you in the mouth. And I don’t think we had it from the jump, and obviously, that’s a little disappointing.”
Looking to send a message to her players, Christie Sides removed her starters from the game with 4:41. At that point, Caitlin Clark recorded her fourth foul and she did not return to the court.
“It’s really disappointing. We have to figure that out,” Sides said, before challenging her players. “I think [improved effort] is going to start with them. We’re here to build a road map for them to be successful, and that’s on them. They’ve got to figure that one out.”
It will be interesting to see how the Indiana Fever responds in their next game. They will take the court against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. This will be the first regular season meeting between the teams. In their final preseason game, the Fever defeated the Dream 83-80 while Caitlin Clark had 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
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