Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston's two-man game is one of the WNBA's most deadly combinations when it's firing on all cylinders. Today, it was clicking like Dorothy's heels in a bad situation. It's a tactic Dallas should consider implementing with Paige Bueckers and Li Yueru. They've already shown they can play well off of each other, and Li, especially, continues to show just how talented she is.
She finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block on 8/11 from the field. Yueru knocked down jumpers and finished around the basket with either hand, showing a flurry of moves and poise as she got a little personal revenge against Boston. The Fever center dominated their first matchup, but the 6'7" hooper from Changzhi, China, stood tall this time.
The former UConn star had a day of her own on the stat sheet for the most part, but she also had one of her worst games taking care of the ball. Bueckers ended the game with 21 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals, but she added four turnovers to the party pack. That's like having too many black jelly beans in the bag. That's no good. But that wasn't what ailed the Wings most of all.
The Wings have too many problems that start with effort
The Wings fell to the Fever for the second time within just a few short weeks. Clark missed the last matchup, but made her presence felt today, and Indy thoroughly dismantled a young Dallas team 102-83. The loss can be directly traced to free throws, turnovers, offensive rebounds, and poor defense all-around. But there can be beauty in destruction if you learn from it.
It was a 19-point loss, and each point can be linked to the free-throw and field goal attempt disparity on the stat sheet. Of course, it will be more complicated than that, but not by much. The Fever won the hustle categories. They played harder, and the basketball gods rewarded them for their effort.
This is a team that just got blasted by the Golden State Valkyries, only scoring 61 points. They scored over 60 in the first half today, after giving up a 28-point first quarter, followed by 26 in the second. There was no resistance defensively, and much of what the Valkyries do is play with nonstop effort. It's a huge reason why they're the surprise of the league this season.
Effort is something that should be automatic, but some teams play with it more consistently than others. You can speculate on why that may be, whether it's the players, the coach, or some organizational failure, but the fact remains that the teams that do well are normally the ones who play hard all of the time, regardless of the reason for it.
Indiana's aggression earned them 19 free throws compared to 11 for Dallas. The Fever made 14 of their attempts, and the Wings made seven. That's seven of the 19-point deficit right there. They shot over 50% from the field, making it more difficult to find easy shots since they're always playing against a set defense.
All of this is fixable, and it isn't easy when players are in and out of the lineup so often. Consistency helps build confidence, and when you're confident, you play with more effort. Uncertainty is debilitating; there was a lot of that out there. Though things can be made easier for everyone if they start to feature the Paige/Li two-man game more often.
Yueru has been such a strong scorer when she's assertive; the defense has to account for her. You should be able to find open players on the perimeter after the defense collapses, and some strong ball movement can allow multiple people opportunities to show their talent. That's how the Fever destroyed the Wings today. It's something to learn from.