It was 2022, and Candace Parker, a two-time WNBA champ, seven-time All-Star, absolute legend was in a rare shooting slump. In the postseason, her three-point shot just vanished. She went 1-for-9 from deep in the Sky’s first-round series. Not exactly the stat line you’d expect from one of the most decorated players in the league. But here’s the thing about GOATs: they don’t unravel when the shots stop falling. They don’t panic. They ride the storm the same way they ride a scoring run: with poise. Our baby GOAT Caitlin Clark seems to be cut from the same cloth. Albeit the frustration clearly visible on the face of the highly-competitive reigning league ROTY, she is keeping her cool, with her whole team backing her.

Tuesday’s 94–86 win over the Seattle Storm was pure relief for Indiana. Finally, a W. But for Clark, her shots have been falling short or not going right, quite literally. In the team’s third possession, Clark took a 26-foot three point shot guarded by the tallest person on the floor, Ezi Magbegor. The ball hit the left of the rim and went out of bounds. But with 8:48 on the clock, Clark stole the ball from Nneka Ogwumike and ran downhill for a layup over Skylar Diggins, making her very first points for the night. Things could possibly take a turn, right? However, soon, her shots turned into air balls or bounced off the rim. Even her floaters from the free throw line distance wouldn’t go in.

The sophomore got more reserved even on open shots, either turning them into passes or eventual turnovers. She ended the trip to Climate Pledge Arena with more turnovers (8) than points (6) on 3-of-13 shooting from the field, and 0-of-6 from beyond the arc. However, she did help the team with 9 assists and 3 steals. But this story has repeated for three games now. In the loss against the Aces, she managed a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists, but shot 1-for-10 from deep. And the game before that against the Golden State Valkyries, she had a 0-for-7 from three, 3-for-14 overall. And Tuesday marked the sixth time she has been held to single-digit points in her WNBA career. It’s the third game in her career where she hasn’t hit a 3-pointer. But are her teammates worried? Lexie Hull has an answer.

After their first win against the Storm this season, the guard was asked, “How do you try to support Caitlin in this kind of shooting slump?” Truly knowing that this is just what they are calling it, a slump, and nothing more, Hull responded, “She’ll be fine. I don’t think we’re worried. We are not worried about her. She’s a great shooter, she’s a great player, this happens to every great player. She’ll be fine, yeah. Not worried about it.”

Lexie Hull said like it was the most obvious thing ever. Ten seconds. That’s all it took to shut down any brewing panic. Coach Stephanie White wasn’t worried either:

“I’m not worried about Caitlin’s shot. Caitlin’s shot is going to be just fine,” she said after the Aces game. Even Clark herself was like, calm down, you all. “There are going to be stretches that are really good and there’s going to be stretches that aren’t as good,” she told reporters after Sunday’s loss. “Obviously, it’s frustrating as you want them to go in. Even tonight I felt like there was a few that felt really good off my hand and they just didn’t go down.”

The numbers in her last three games haven’t been kind as she’s made just 13-of-47 field goals (that’s 27.7%) and only 1-of-23 from deep (4.3%). But you know what really told us she’s feeling the slump a bit? That moment in the fourth quarter after she got called for a travel for the second time in her 31 minutes on the floor. She just… laid down on the court. Flat on her back. Like “what else can go wrong today?”

This is normal. Especially when you’re coming off one of your best shooting nights ever. Remember that Liberty win? The whole Fever squad turned the three-point line into a party and Clark tied her career-high with seven triples – from distances like 34, 31, 28 feet.

It’s just a cold spell. But she’ll get out of it, no doubt. However, when she’s off her game, it’s clear the Fever feel it. That was obvious during her brief injury absence too. But here’s the silver lining is Clark’s still contributing in other ways. Like against the Aces….sure, shooting was rough, but she still had 10 assists. Nine more against Golden State. And again vs. Seattle, her court vision stayed sharp. She’s not disappearing, she’s just human.

Meanwhile, while she’s working through her slump, someone else is shining.

Aliyah Boston steals the show as Caitlin Clark struggles

Well, this one wasn’t about Caitlin Clark and that’s okay. After a couple of tough outings, the Indiana Fever finally snapped out of their funk, wrapping up their three-game West Coast trip on a high. And it was Aliyah Boston who led the charge.

In front of a rowdy crowd at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, Boston completely took over. The center dropped a career-high 31 points on 13-of-18 shooting and pulled down eight boards. That’s the first time she’s hit 30+ in a regulation WNBA game – her previous best (30) came in an OT win last year. Interestingly, the forward was already coming off of a season-high 26 points in the loss to the Aces.

With DeWanna Bonner still out – and possibly on her way out of Indy – and Kelsey Mitchell firing on all cylinders, Indiana had other weapons stepping up. Mitchell added 26 points of her own, and Lexie Hull – playing in her home state – dropped her first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. But things got physical fast. Like, first-jump-ball-of-the-game fast.

There were bodies on the floor all night, and just two minutes in, Boston picked up a flagrant-1 foul for a closeout violation on Nneka Ogwumike made three. But that didn’t shake her. The Fever went toe-to-toe with Seattle through the first half, carrying a six-point lead into the break.

Then came the third quarter blitz. Indiana came out swinging and stretched the lead to as many as 19. Seattle just couldn’t keep up. They tried to claw back late, but every time they made a push, Boston, Mitchell, or Hull responded. “It doesn’t matter whose night it is, as long as it’s our night,” Hull said postgame. That’s the kind of team-first energy this Fever squad has been trying to build all season.

So while fans are still waiting for Clark to get back to raining threes, they’ll take this big W because at the end of the day, it was Indiana’s win, no matter who lit up the box score.