What was billed as a titanic battle between Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson turned out to be a brickfest between the two. The Las Vegas Aces have managed to snap out of their 3 game losing streak to finally win a game in front of a packed house of 18,547 at T-Mobile Arena. With that, both teams now sit at 6-7, a far cry from what fans expected from two championship hopefuls. But there was something else that stood out. It was the lack of efficiency from both Clark and Wilson, who struggled to find their rhythm all night.

Caitlin finished the game with 19 points, going 7-20 from the field. On the other hand. A’ja scored 24 points on 8-21 from the field. This wasn’t the battle the fans wanted to see when they tuned in. They wanted these two superstars to go punch for punch. What they got instead was miss for miss!

For the second game in a row, Caitlin Clark had a rough shooting night. This is not something you normally see from the superstar. She is just 1-17 from beyond the arc in the last 2 games. Those are somewhat similar numbers to what she posted before injuring her left quadriceps. She was 5-16 from the 3-point line in the two games against Atlanta before the injury. Is this a worrying trend? Well, that remains to be seen.

The social media, however, wasn’t going to let Clark or Wilson catch a break. Both the superstars caught heat as memes and criticism poured in, urging Wilson to even apologize.

When two of the league’s very best go head to head, the expectations are always high. It was the same for the CC-A’ja duel as well. But it didn’t meet those lofty expectations. While the match proved to be a thriller as the Aces made a comeback from a double-digit gap to win, it didn’t matter to fans much.

“Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson will have the whole Nike HQ stressing with how garbage they have been,” one fan commented. Another joined in to reiterate the same sentiment, saying, “A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark having a mid off when it comes to scoring 😱”

At the end, both finished on a combined 15/41 from the field. One fan tried to point this out early into the game, saying,” Caitlin Clark and A’Ja Wilson are a combined 2/15 from the field. Neither superstar can throw a ball in the Pacific Ocean right now.” Now let’s be real. On a normal night, Caitlin Clark isn’t shooting 35% from the field and 10% from deep. And A’ja Wilson? She’s not going 38% either. Both have been well above 40% all season long, so this felt like a bad phase. And the Nike HQ won’t be losing their sleep over this! But try telling that to the fans. The memes kept pouring in!

One fan posted a meme of two clowns together with a caption, “Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson. One is a ret-rd, the other is a ret-rd.” As brutal as it gets! And honestly, can you blame the fans? Clark and A’ja combined for 11 turnovers in that game and these are two MVP candidates! In fact, Wilson could not help but apologize to her fans later. “I just wanna apologize to anybody that was watching..that is not a normal A’ja Wilson night. We are gonna be back,” Wilson said. “I’m just appreciative that my teammates really trust me and continue to trust me…Sorry if you had to see that, but we got the dub!”

So, yes, such stretches are normal. Clark will come back at her absolute best. As for A’ja? She won’t stop, too. She will keep improving. But for today, she will have a good night’s sleep. After all, she just extended her winning record against Indiana to 21-1.