LOS ANGELES — For nearly 38 minutes, Caitlin Clark managed only one miss.
This was not what a sold-out, record crowd, wearing Clark jerseys in both the Indiana Fever and Iowa colors, turned out to see.
Clark had scored just five points and, in frustration, saw all seven of her 3-point attempts hit the rim. Then with 2:24 left in the game and a 3-point lead against the Los Angeles Sparks that Favors couldn’t win, Clark took a shot from well behind the 3-point line — 33 feet to be exact — and it eventually landed in the bottom of the net.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I seriously feel like every shot I hit is going to go in,” Clarke said. “Some nights are absolutely great and some nights you have a little trouble hitting shots, but I want to take those shots at the end of the game. I think that’s a mindset and confidence you have to have about yourself.”
After uncharacteristically missing the ball deep throughout the game, Clarke’s first try saw a familiar face come in, giving the opposing crowd a knowing smile.
She wasn’t finished yet.
With less than a minute left and the Fever now leading by just two, Clarke pulled up the ball again, this time from 28 feet, and hit the shot. The No. 1 overall pick once again smiled at the crowd and shrugged like Michael Jordan. The shot sealed the 78-73 win, giving Clarke and the Fever their first win of the season.
“We were so close. We just kept our composure,” Fever coach Christy Sides said.
In the marquee matchup between Clarke and No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink, Clarke will need every drop of his confidence. Friday’s game was his worst as a professional, but what he lacked in scoring, Clarke made up for in nearly every other aspect of his game.
“She made some great shots, but she did everything else we needed her to do,” Sides said. “She’s really focused on helping us, getting better on the defensive (end). I’m really proud of her energy.”
Clark was troubled by the Sparks’ defense during the first half and couldn’t get into a rhythm. The Fever gave up 11 points after shooting 39% from the field and 22% from 3.
But Clarke composed herself in the second half. She kept hitting and missing shots, but she still left her mark on the game by grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds, dishing a team-high eight assists — including some nice passes that got caught in tight windows — and a team-high four steals.
Clarke said in the postgame that despite the 0-5 start, she has felt more comfortable in her last few games. She said it has been helpful to remind herself that it’s “not about scoring” but about how she can impact the game in other ways.
“I thought I played a really good game outside of just shooting,” Clark said. “Whether I was rebounding, finding my teammates, I thought I was very active on defense, so I didn’t let it bother me, and that’s something I’m really proud of.”
If Clarke found ways to make her presence felt on what was a poor night, it was her teammates who carried the load on the scoring front. Aliyah Boston shot 57% from the field and scored 17 points, Kelsey Mitchell had a team-high 18 points, and Tami Fagbenle added 17 off the bench. Clarke’s defense, and the rest of the Fever’s efforts on that end, held the Sparks to 11 points in the third quarter.
The Fever erased the Sparks’ 11-point halftime lead with an 11-0 run, after which the game went back and forth as both teams struggled to score and stay ahead. With time running down in the fourth quarter and the lead swinging back and forth, it became clear that Clark’s passing, defense and rebounding wouldn’t be enough. To win she would have to do what she does best, what the crowd came there to see her do: score.
Clark said she knew it was only a matter of time before gunfire broke out.
“Honestly, I went to the bench because I was like, ‘I should go, they should go in,'” Clark said of her two late 3s. “I had missed so many shots throughout the game. It was time for them to go in.”
In just two moments, Clarke’s poor play suddenly became the greatest achievement of her career. When she greeted the Los Angeles crowd, which gave her a standing ovation even after the buzzer sounded, the scene was a reminder that even though she’s playing in a new league and for a new team, Clarke can still put on a great show.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Clark, now six games into her WNBA career. “This is my job, this is what I love, but I never want to lose the fun of the game, and nights like tonight remind me why I love playing basketball.”
