Caitlin Clark struggled as the Fever suffer first round playoff exit

The Las Vegas Aces beat Indiana Fever on Thursday night, eliminating them from the WNBA playoffs. A combination of poor shooting, bad calls and A’ja Wilson came together to doom the Fever.

Clark started strong hitting three of her first four shots and scored 11 points in a high-scoring first quarter. Then she got cold. Clark finished with 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting and she only made 3-of-11 three-pointers. She also had six turnovers and just four assists after a record-setting Game 2 performance.

The Fever never let it get out of hand, but were never able to completely close the gap. Questionable officiating played a big part in that, particularly when Clark took an elbow to the face that nearly knocked her out of the game.

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While Clark’s failure will get most of the attention, A’ja Wilson was the true story of the game. She scored 36 points on 11-of-18 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. While the four-time MVP only had one block, she constantly affected shots.

Among those affected were Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell finished with 23 points on 7-of-23 shooting. Aliyah Boston was the only Fever star to have a decent game with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Sophie Cunningham scored five points in 24 minutes off the bench.

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Meanwhile, Wilson got the support of Chelsea Gray who played all 40 minutes and scored 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Gray, Wilson and the Aces have won three of the last four WNBA championships and now look like they are on their way to another.

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