Paige Bueckers’ Dallas Wings snapped Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever’s five-game winning streak with a 91-85 win on Thursday at American Airlines Center. It was already expectd to be difficult for Indiana to sustain the success during their tiring road trip. However, the loss put head coach Stephanie White at the center of criticism from a WNBA analyst after Wings coach Jose Fernandez’s plan to stop Clark worked perfectly.

“Terrible. Dallas Wings head coach Jose Fernandez exposed Stephanie White… He centered everything around stopping Caitlin Clark, and Stephanie White did it for him,” WNBA analyst Maurice said on his ‘Keep The Vision’ podcast.

“He was never really forced to double her that often. Never really forced to blitz her inside pick-n-roll because they didn’t run any of it.”

In her last game against the Wings, Clark had 29 points and 10 assists. Fernandez was very mindful of how great Clark was in any pick-and-roll situations, and he wanted to get the ball out of Clark’s hands.

“We wanted to get it out of her hands. You know, in any pick-and-roll situation in the middle of the floor, she’s so good. So, if it was going to be on the side of the floor, we wanted to get it out of her hands and make other people make shots,” he told reporters in the postgame conference.

The Wings were able to do so, limiting her ability to get the Fever’s lethal offense in rhythm.

“He wanted to get the ball out of Caitlin’s hands because if she starts scoring and she’s getting people involved, now everybody’s flowing. When the ball is in Kelsey’s hands, it’s just Kelsey that is going to be shooting. Nobody else is going to get in a rhythm. And that is exactly what happened,” the podcast host added.

Aside from Clark, the Fever don’t have players who can dissect a defense at will. Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, two of their other leading faces on offense, aren’t elite in ball distribution.

Mitchell scored a game-high 37 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while Boston scored 14. They combined for more than half of the Fever’s total points. However, they combined for only 6 assists.

Sophie Cunningham, who has been effective coming off the bench, attempted four shots and missed all of them. Clark had an off-night for herself and made only 4-of-15 shots from the field. However, she was still able to create looks for her teammates, accounting for nine of Indiana’s 17 assists.

However, according to White, the more glaring issue in the loss was Indiana’s defense. The Fever failed to rise when the Wings forced them to play one-on-one defense.

With seven more games left in the season, Caitlin Clark and company have to address their defensive gaps. Yes, they are the best offensive team in the league, but they also need to protect their side against elite teams. Moreover, the failure against the Wings will give White a chance to address the gap.