PHOENIX — Caitlin Clark sat on the bench for the first time Sunday and clapped in the final seconds of the game. The Indiana Fever rookie celebrated an 88-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury with her teammates before being surrounded by television cameras and photographers. When Diana Taurasi spoke to an ESPN reporter, she walked 20 feet away toward the home locker room.
The game was significant for the Fever, marking their first win over a winning team in 20 games, but it also presented a before-and-after picture that shouldn’t be ignored. Clark, 22, is a hot prospect and the future of the WNBA. Phoenix’s Taurasi, 42, is the league’s career scoring leader and has a street named after her outside the stadium.
Clark performed steadily for 39 minutes in front of a sold-out crowd at the Trail Center. Although she made 4 of 14 shots, she only scored 15 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists, just shy of her first career triple-double. “Oh my gosh…she’s such an unbelievable passer,” Indiana coach Christy Sides said. “She just finds drama that needs to happen.”
Taurasi played 32 minutes and scored 19 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Two days ago, Taurasi hit five 3-pointers in a home win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Against the Fever, she made 2 of 10 three-pointers and never found an offensive rhythm.
Caitlin Clark had a near triple-double in today’s win over Phoenix 😈 pic.twitter.com/KSJriLAb3l
– Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
Clark did not speak to reporters after the game, other than praising the team’s resilience in a sideline interview. Sides said the guard felt uncomfortable and needed to meet with the coach. It’s also a fair bet that Clark doesn’t want to be asked to answer questions about beating Taurasi, a rising star who toppled a legend. In some ways, this is a challenge for the entire Indiana franchise.
Sides was asked twice this weekend to evaluate Clark’s performance. Twice she focused her answers more on the craze’s young people and their collective growth. Clark spoke with reporters along with teammate Aaliyah Boston after Indiana’s loss to the Seattle Storm on Thursday. After reporters asked Clark a question for the fifth time in a row, Clark waved and said, “Ask Aliyah a question.”
If anyone can relate, it’s probably Taurasi, but that comes with an asterisk. Twenty years ago, she encountered a similar situation. Like Clark at Iowa State, Taurasi finished her college career at Connecticut State as the best athlete in her sport. She was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft and was expected to elevate the league. The difference is the media attention. Since joining the league, Clark has been the focus of countless controversies — some about basketball, some about race. She learned that anything she said could become a national headline or topic.
Maybe that explains her reaction Saturday when asked about the WNBA All-Star Game on July 20 in Phoenix. Even though Clark came in second place in a recent fan poll, she didn’t want to be part of any conversation. “I don’t know if I’m going to be there,” she said after practice at Arizona State. “I’m not going to talk about what-ifs. My focus is on playing basketball. Everything will happen naturally.
In the same media interview, Clark was asked about her first memories of Taurasi, a tall order considering she was just two years old when Taurasi first joined the WNBA. But after thinking about it, Clark said Taurasi has always been her connection to women’s professional basketball. She admired the intensity and fire of Taurasi’s competition and called Sunday’s match a “dream come true” opportunity to compete against the best.
“This is someone I grew up admiring, respecting and hoping to be one day,” Clark said. “I don’t know if there are going to be a lot of people who can do it like she did.”
In 2004, as a rookie with Phoenix, Taurasi immediately became the face of the team. Her first home game drew 10,493 fans, the most for an opener in three years. Before many away games that season, Taurasi met and spoke with a select group of 50 fans pregame. Former Phoenix general manager Seth Sulka told reporters at the time that the attention was unlike anything he had seen in the WNBA.
“I love it,” Taurasi said when asked about this Sunday. “I just love playing basketball. I don’t really care about the outside noise or what people think about me. I enjoy every minute. Being a rookie is cool, man. It’s fun. You can do whatever you want, you don’t Knows Better. Featured in Sports Illustrated, Slam…ESPN Magazine.
Taurasi glanced at the young reporter in the room.
“You’re too young. You don’t know what I’m talking about,” she said.
Like Clark, Taurasi still has to deal with physical contact as veterans try to put her in her place. Opponents respected her talent, but they allowed her to earn that respect. While providing television commentary during the women’s Final Four game on April 5, Taurasi recalled a “welcome to the WNBA” moment, along with a player named DeLisha Milton-Jones. The formidable defender elbowed her twice in the face. It creates some kind of competition.
Milton Jones, coach of the Old Dominion girls program, laughed during a recent phone conversation. She saw Taurasi’s comments on social media. “I thought, ‘Invite me to your show so I can tell them what it’s like on the other side,'” she said.
Milton Jones is well aware of Taurasi’s skills. In the WNBA, she saw this up close. How Taurasi manipulates games with her vision. How she understands intervals and time. How she applies her point guard touch to multiple positions. But what impressed Milton-Jones the most was how Taurasi brought skills that would take most rookies a season or two to learn.
Milton-Jones said that when she stood up for a jump shot, Taurasi would poke her in the stomach just hard enough to make her flinch and shoot. Offensively, Taurasi will break free of pressure and try to clog up Milton Jones to create space.
“She would literally punch me in the stomach,” Milton Jones said. “Then she’ll go full-on. My coach is yelling at me, ‘You need to guard her!’ ” I was like, ‘She just hit me in the stomach! She’s energetic, cunning, and her game is as savvy as a vet’s.
(Taurasi responded outside the media room on Sunday: “I think it’s my upbringing. Italian-Argentinian people, we’re cunning. We’re always trying to find an advantage somehow. In basketball, there’s something in the game. Contest.
Carrie Graf, who coached Taurasi during his first two professional seasons, said Taurasi’s biggest flaw was the officiating. She is too harsh. Instead of yelling in their faces, she told Taurasi to use her charm. Remember, officials are human beings too. But there’s no doubt she’s ready.
“I can picture this like a picture,” Graf said by phone from Australia. “She’ll go into the alley and face the tall trees. She’s on the right side, she extends her right arm like an overhead hook shot. And then comes in with her left hand, the shot-blocker, and while she’s in the air, she Reaching up and grabbing the shot blocker’s arm to free up some space so she could put the ball on the rim, women just didn’t do that back then.
Diana Taurasi takes on Caitlin Clark in Sunday’s game. (Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
Clark has this quality too, but instead of hanging in the air, it’s pulled up from the mark, the signature move that made her famous in the sport. She did it twice on Sunday, lighting up the crowd. Even in Phoenix, in many areas of the court, the number of “Clark” jerseys outnumbers the number of Phoenix players.
Caitlin Clark Shows Off Her Deep Range With Another Sign Three 🎯 pic.twitter.com/IX8wnVb3g4
– Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 30, 2024
Clark is still going through that transition. As she has all season, she forced too many passes on Sunday, resulting in six turnovers. She attempted a behind-the-back pass but had little chance. One of her lead passes in transition failed. She lost the ball and fell to the court.
Before the game (Clark meets with reporters before every game), she said her biggest adjustment was the pace of everything. After losing to South Carolina in the NCAA national championship, Clark returned to Iowa City for a day, “and something happened in my life,” she said.
After the draft, Clark moved to Indianapolis. On May 3, she played her first preseason game. She hasn’t slowed down since then, playing 20 games during an 8-12 run. What’s exciting is that she knows she still has room to grow and master the little details that will elevate her game. What’s frustrating is that she doesn’t have much practice time to do it.
“I have to learn game by game,” Clark said. “That’s arguably the biggest adjustment.”
Taurasi predicted the same thing. She didn’t mean that against Clark and the league’s talented rookies. It’s just that this transformation often takes time. In an interview with Phoenix Radio, Taurasi compared it to a college quarterback adjusting to the NFL. After Sunday’s loss, she expressed how much respect she had for the way Clark handled the situation.
“It’s amazing what Caitlin has accomplished,” Taurasi said. “Her short career so far has been nothing short of remarkable. One thing I really like about her is she loves the game. You can tell she’s committed. Her future is very bright.
(Above: Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images)
