Aces struggle and Caitlin Clark hits a shooting slump early in WNBA season

For the second consecutive season the Las Vegas Aces have gotten off to a slow start.

The team snapped a three-game losing streak Sunday with a victory over Indiana. Las Vegas sits at 6-7, a rare time they are under .500 since the team came to the Nevada city in 2018. The victory over Caitlin Clark and the Fever was one of their best efforts of the season. (It also was ESPN’s third most-watched WNBA regular-season game, averaging 1.7 million viewers.)

Coach Becky Hammon is hoping for more consistency moving forward.

“It’s hard to build trust when you’re not consistent. Every day. You got to show up. You got to be who you are and be the best version of yourself,” she said. “And we haven’t got that yet. We’ve got it in pieces, which makes me optimistic. And then we have, you know, where we fall to pieces, which enrages me. So, you know, we have to find a way to show up and put a 40-minute game together.”

The Aces look to string some wins together now with Connecticut and Washington coming to Las Vegas for back-to-back games this week. The team then goes on a five-game road trip that will go a long way to determining where they are heading into the All-Star break.

Hammon is hoping to get Jewell Loyd going on offense. She’s averaging just 11.4 points this season — her lowest total since her rookie year in 2015.

Clark isn’t worried about her recent shooting slump over the past two games when she’s gone 1-for-17 from behind the 3-point arc. She’s a career 35% 3-point shooter, with many of her shots coming from way behind the 3-point line.

“I mean, there’s going to be stretches that are really good and stretches that aren’t as good,” she said. “Obviously it’s frustrating. You want them to go in and even tonight there were a few that felt really good off my hand that just didn’t go down.”

Clark hasn’t lost faith in her shooting.

“The challenge for myself going forward is just continue to pour into every other aspect of the game and I can continue to have an impact in those other areas.”

Clark and Napheesa Collier are leading fan All-Star voting through Friday. Three of Clark’s Fever teammates are also in the top 10 of the voting that will close Saturday. There have been a huge number of votes cast so far which has impressed Clark.

“It seems like it’s certainly going to set some sort of record for the amount of votes cast compared to last year, if I’m not mistaken. I feel like we’re on track for that, which just shows how much engagement we’re driving across the league for all different sorts of players and teams,” she said.

“And, you know, that’s exactly what the league needs, is people are excited about that type of stuff and wanting to be involved, feeling like their vote really counts, and feeling like they can make an impact on All-Star Games. So, it’s really exciting to see, and hopefully as we continue to grow here year after year after year.”

Minnesota leads the way as the No. 1 team in the power poll with Phoenix moving up to second after beating New York last week. The Liberty are third with Seattle fourth. Atlanta, Golden State and Las Vegas are the next three. Indiana is eighth. Washington, Los Angeles and Dallas follow the Fever. Chicago and Connecticut round out the poll.

Nneka Ogwumike of Seattle earned Player of the Week honors for the first time this season. The Storm forward averaged 25.7 points, eight rebounds and 2.3 steals to help the team win all three of its games last week.

Chicago at Los Angeles, Sunday. The Sparks will retire former star Candace Parker’s jersey at the game. She will be the third player to have that honor for Los Angeles.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball