Caitlin Clark: Taking the Game to the Next Level

A commemoration of Caitlin Clark’s meteoric career at Iowa and an evaluation of the start of her WNBA debut season.

A commemoration of Caitlin Clark’s meteoric career at Iowa and an evaluation of the start of her WNBA debut season.

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CHICAGO — It may have been Barbie World, but it was Caitlin’s House.

In the fourth and final showdown between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — and, you know, the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky — there was no doubt who the model player was in a pink-decked Wintrust Arena for “Barbie Night.”

Clark scored a season-high 31 points and added 12 assists in a 100-81 blowout victory in a packed arena Friday night. Meanwhile, Reese struggled to find a rhythm, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The fever is rising, the sky is falling, and let’s face it, there is no race for Rookie of the Year. It was a good story while it lasted — the continuation of a rivalry that began in college, one that’s been a welcome addition to the WNBA — but for this award, there’s a first and a second, and we know the order.

go up 📈

going to the locker room after our win in Chicago moved us up to 6th place in the play-offs. photo.twitter.com/GM3h889wLB

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) August 31, 2024

Before the game, Clark and Reese were asked about the award, but both waved it away.

“We both have the same answer, we don’t wake up and think about individual awards,” Clark said. “I know that’s what you all think we do, that’s what everyone wants this to be about. But our teams are both competing for playoff spots and that’s our main focus.”

“I think you guys made something big out of it,” Reese said.

I believe them. I’m sure Reese, the challenger in this scenario, thought about it when everyone was gaslighting her earlier in the season, but really that kind of prize becomes a focus after you win it.

So let’s not waste time arguing. We know how this is going to end. Clark, with the ball in her hands and the Fever coursing through her, is showing that her success in college will carry over to the WNBA. She looks confident and free. The days of people trolling anxiously about WNBA players being mean to her should be over. She’s the one dishing out the punishment now.

“I “We feel confident, but that’s a team in this league when you can put a bunch of wins together,” Clark said. “That’s it, right?”

On Friday, she went 8 of 14 from the field, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range, and 10 of 11 from the free throw line. She had 12 assists and three turnovers in 32 minutes. She is averaging 24 points and 8.5 assists since the break. Not being on the Olympic team may have been the best thing for her season.

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Clark led four players in double figures as the Fever connected on 48.5 shots from the field and made 13 of 29 3-pointers. Indiana trailed early in the first quarter but took control in the second and went on a roll from there.

“Honestly, I thought it was a fluid game for us,” she said. “We had a good flow there. It just felt like good basketball. Sometimes I think as basketball players, you can just feel it.”

Reese has been the second-best rookie all season, which is an accomplishment in itself. She had that post-Olympic streak of three games with 20-plus rebounds and broke two rookie records set by Tina Charles on Friday night, but her offensive limitations are becoming increasingly apparent. She has taken just nine shots (making four), while fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso has taken just four (making one). The Sky have been missing their Chen, as in quicksilver guard Chennedy Carter, their leading scorer who missed her second straight game due to “health and safety protocols.” After a hot start, led by guard Lindsay Allen, the offense has been a shambles.

“We’ve got to get the ball inside,” Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. “That’s who we are. The ball has to go inside. It has to go inside to our big players. They’re dominant there. It helps when they dominate the paint. Then it helps us on the outside. It gives us a chance to play a perimeter game.”

Their improvement will come with time. But for now, no one cares about rookie records or double-doubles. Chicago has lost five straight games and six of seven since the Olympic break. It is 11-20 and just a half-game ahead of Atlanta for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We’ve got to play desperately,” Sky guard Rachel Banham said. “We’ve got to take it to a whole other level. Do we want to be in the play-offs or not? Are we just going to pack our bags and go home? Let’s figure it out now.”

Meanwhile, the Fever (16-16) have won five of six and moved into sixth place in the WNBA playoff race thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker with Phoenix. Their slow start to the season is a memory, but not forgotten.

“I remember saying early in the season, I know there’s going to be a point later in the season where we’re going to look back on this and think, this 1-8 start is going to help us somewhere down the road,” Clark said. “And I think that’s the point right now.”

Indiana has won three of four games against Sky in the season series. In their previous game, Sky came back from a big fourth-quarter deficit to win 88-87. On Friday, Clark reflected on both the future and the past.

“This was a big one for us,” she said. “It almost counts as two when you’re in a playoff race with a loss and a win. So it was a big one. But we also wanted to win the season series with them. That was kind of a focal point. And the last time we were here, we were down 15 in the fourth quarter and we blew it. So that was another opportunity for us to come in here and show what we’re all about.”

Shortly after making two free throws to set a new WNBA high in points, Clark left the game with just under four minutes left in the game with her team leading by so much. She had nothing left to prove. Not tonight.

Meanwhile, the Sky searches for answers.

“If you’re not motivated to bust your ass, then we’ve got a problem,” Banham said. “Then don’t put on a uniform, because you’ve got to feel this in your chest.”

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletics; Photos of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark: Dylan Goodman / NBAE via Getty Images, Barry Gossage / NBAE via Getty Images)