Mystics Coach Displays Helplessness After Defeat at the Hands of Caitlin Clark

As we’ve seen numerous times during her college career, Caitlin Clark can be quite damaging once she turns red-hot. The Indiana Fever rookie proved just that tonight as her team took down the Washington Mystics in the capital. While impressing everyone in the building, she also left Washington’s head coach, Eric Thibault, helpless with her 7 threes on the night. Nevertheless, the new coach praised the rookie for giving such good competition to his team, who are yet to win a single game this season.

During the post-game press conference, Thibault expressed how Caitlin Clark’s career night did not leave many options for the team. He said, “She makes some tough a** shots. Credit to Caitlin.” The Mystics had as many as three players guarding the No. 22 tonight. But looked like that did not phase the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer.

Talking about that, the head coach added, “Yeah, she made 7 threes. She makes pretty good decisions with the ball. She looked like somebody who had their shooting legs back a little bit. I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody that she can make shots.”

The Mystics too had a back-to-back outing as last night they went against the Chicago Sky. Understanding the sentiment of how Indiana had to play 11 games in 20 days, Thibault added, “They had a brutal schedule, not just who they played but the amount of games. I know she had a thirty, but we had to follow her at the end. She had two hot streaks in the game.”

Christie Sides also reflected the same as she praised her golden rookie after the second 30-point game of her WNBA career.

Thoughts on the team’s performance by Caitlin Clark and the head coach

Indiana came out to play after a much-needed break and a great performance. While their offense and defense both took a dip in the second quarter, they picked it right up in the second half to lead into the win. Talking about the overall display vs the Mystics, the head coach Christie Sides complimented Caitlin Clark. She said, “When she gets hot, she can be really dangerous. We need to get her off some screens so she doesn’t have to work so hard.”

Clark, despite giving some great looks to the Captial One Arena crowd, was quite harsh on herself. She told the reporters, “We settled a little bit. Probably could have got our feet in the paint more.” She also added, “I still feel like there’s so many ways that I can continue to be better. That probably goes for our whole team too.”

The close game with a back-and-forth and multiple lead changes was quite entertaining to watch. In fact, the entire crowd stood up in the last few seconds as the Mystics tried to grab a win finally. However, the well-rested Fever had the upper hand. Nevertheless, watching coach Eric Thibaut still praising Caitlin Clark surely comes as a fresh breath, especially when the 6-ft-2 guard is all about the game on the floor.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.