Kieran Hickey-Semple boldly claimed that Caitlin Clark won’t be able to lead the Indiana Fever if she’s their “system” on Sunday’s episode of the “Speakeasy” podcast. Semple, who anchors the show alongside Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy, was critical of Clark for not sacrificing her role for the betterment of the team as the crew dissected the Fever’s struggles after a 113-96 blowout loss to the Atlanta Dream on Saturday.
“It’s gonna be taken upon her to be like, hey, ‘I can actually take a step back from the scoring output, the amount of shots that I’m putting up and be more of a facilitator,'” Semple said. “We see the best guards in basketball do that.
“You see that from Sabrina Ionescu, you see that from [Courtney] Vandersloot … like, you just need someone that can facilitate. But also, not have to take all of the shots. So for Caitlin, it is a tough situation because you’re asked to do much, but why? You have talented players on the team.”
Semple compared this to Angel Reese’s situation, where she’s sticking to her role on the Dream as a rebounder and post player, which is working well for her team. Semple added that Clark has been in the system for all her teams, so this could be an issue, but she believes she shouldn’t be the offensive engine.
“She shouldn’t be right now,” he said. “If she’s the system, you’re not gonna win anything.”
Caitlin Clark had 26 points each in the back-to-back losses to the Dream. However, she also had 14 assists against 12 combined turnovers. Indiana’s loss, despite her scoring brilliance, led to conversations about Clark’s impact, sparking harsh criticism from Kieran Hickey-Semple.
Stephanie White bluntly blames turnovers as Caitlin Clark and Fever collapse in third quarter
The Indiana Fever had 10 of their 19 turnovers in the third quarter on Saturday, with five alone coming from Caitlin Clark. The turnovers were also the first thing Stephanie White brought up when a reporter asked her about the Fever’s struggles.
“I think it started with our turnovers. We had 10 turnovers, they had 11 points off those turnovers,” White said. “It’s hard for us to recover when they get those direct points and there’s no transition defense for those kinds of turnovers and it gave them a little momentum.”
The Fever took an 11-point lead in the first quarter and stayed ahead by three at halftime. However, the third quarter meltdown turned the game on its head as Atlanta outscored Indiana 28-15 in that frame to take a 10-point lead into the fourth.
The momentum wasn’t in Caitlin Clark and the Fever’s favor at that stage as the Dream grew more comfortable with their defense and shotmaking, which helped them close the game even better than Thursday’s 108-101 win.
Read more:
- “No One Cares Until It’s Caitlin”: Fans Point Out Alleged Olivia Miles’ Media Bias After Rookie Costs Lynx a Win With Unforced Turnover
- Fever Fans Blast Stephanie White as Troubling Trend Reaches Boiling Point After Caitlin Clark Decision Backfires
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