Despite the last shot, Caitlin Clark showed her ability to completely alter the game.
During her tenure as a college superstar, she accomplished this feat more than once. In 2023, she helped Iowa win the regular season over Indiana with a game-winning buzzer-beater 3-pointer. Two years later, in 2024, she repeated the feat against a formidable Michigan State squad.
The fever coaching staff was aware that she had garnered attention due to her positive and viral content.
Thus, with three seconds remaining in Friday’s WNBA exhibition game in Dallas, after Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale made a three-pointer to put the Wings up three points, the Fever called a timeout and drew up that play.
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It didn’t work out this time. Clark found herself surrounded so much that she was unable to get the ball out of the inbounds and only managed to snag it with a mere second remaining. The Fever lost 79-76 after she attempted an off-balance shot, but it was unsuccessful.
It was one of those situations where the Wings understood precisely what would happen because they knew Clark was the only player on the court who could regularly make jumpers in those situations, especially with Fever All-Star Kelsey Mitchell sidelined due to an ankle ailment. That might alter when Mitchell returns.
She is a player who possesses ice in her veins, according to coach Christie Sides. She was 0-for-6 from three until hitting the game-winning shot, much like Arike.
However, with Kelsey Mitchell available, who possesses the same skill, people’s guard strategies will alter when they have multiple players capable of making a three-point shot in three seconds.
Clark’s unsuccessful attempt does not detract from his successful professional debut either. With 21 points in her first WNBA game, she led the Fever in scoring. She shot 4-of-6 in the beginning of the game before cooling off to shoot 5-of-13. Her five three-pointers and 21 points are Fever records for a rookie making their debut.
However, Clark was more concerned with making sure she didn’t deviate from the kind of game she is renowned for than she was with looking at data in her first game.
She was authentic with her step-back, long-range 3-pointers, one of which cleared the head of 2019 WNBA Defensive Pointy Natasha Howard.
Given that a lot of it differs from college, Clark stated, “I think there will be a lot to look back on and learn from.”
Only from a methodological or procedural perspective will our work be exactly the same.
Thus, those seem like the most important things, but all in all, I think I just played really hard, and that’s always something to be happy about.
Every new player in the WNBA must go through a transitional phase. After a demanding collegiate season, they’re switching to a whole new system with new coaches, players, plays, and jargon. Additionally, they only have five designated practice days left before they take the floor.
There are other differences, including a quicker pace, a shorter shot clock, more physical play from the players, and more latitude from the umpires to continue the game.
“Physicality is the toughest shift,” Clark remarked. Everyone kind of gets physical, and occasionally no one is called. In my opinion,the main issue is that all five of us players are incredibly skilled.
You must adjust to the fact that the talent level in the league is obviously far higher than it is in college because you can never truly unwind no matter who enters the game.
This was not only Clark’s first professional game but also her first time receiving instruction from Sides and her team in a full-fledged game setting. Coaches go through these transitional phases too.
After the game, both sides said she was so exhausted by the end of the first quarter that Clark called for a substitute.
In addition to being something Sides stated she ought to be observing, it was partially the outcome of the game’s violence. That is also a component of Sides’ educational process.
Sides remarked, “She reached a point where she was simply supercharged.” At the end of the first, I felt as though I would have to go fetch her and assist her in reaching the sidelines as she turned to face me.
We must improve; we cannot allow her to reach that stage. She simply cannot endure the way that people are protecting her; she perceives a double team, rigid hedges, and intense physical contact.
For her, it is how things will turn out. Thus, we must ensure that we are taking all necessary precautions to keep her safe. She can therefore enter fourth grade at the same level as she did first.
The Fever should take a lot of note from this game, including the importance of resting sufficiently during the game and overcoming physicality.
Ultimately, though, this is only a preseason game, and the Fever only lost by three points against a team that advanced to the playoff semifinals the previous season.
