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Winless no more: Caitlin Clark helped the Indiana Fever to a 78-73 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on the road with some of her trademark fourth-quarter shotmaking.
She hit two three-pointers in the final two and a half minutes of regulation to earn her first WNBA victory.
Clark told reporters postgame that she wants to be the one to take those shots in big moments.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Clark said postgame on May 24. “But I seriously think every shot’s gonna go in that I shoot. It’s basketball. This is just how it goes. Some nights are absolutely amazing, and some nights you struggle to shoot it a little bit. I wanna take those shots at the end of the game. I think it’s a mindset and a confidence you have about yourself.”
Her first three hit from 33-feet, and gave Indiana a six-point lead with two and a half minutes to go.
The second was a 29-foot bomb that sealed the win for the Fever.
Clark, who was wearing a pair of shoes from the late Kobe Bryant’s shoe line with Nike, was asked about Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality.”
“I guess that’s just the mentality you have to have as a competitor,” Clark told reporters. “You want those moments, you embrace those moments, when you’re team needs a big shot. I was able to create a little separation and get the shot off. Would have been nice to hit a few more of those tonight. But hey, we got the job done when we needed to.”
Clark finished the game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and a block in 36 minutes. She shot just 28.6-percent from the field, but made shots when it mattered most.
Clark Links Up with Ashton Kutcher Postgame
One of the first people Clark addressed following her only career WNBA win, was actor Ashton Kutcher.
The two are both University of Iowa alumni. When asked about the interaction postgame, Clark was appreciative of his support.
“He thinks he knows ball, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll have to pay 1-on-1,” Clark said. “That’s a fellow Hawkeye, somebody who’s been very supportive of me over the course of my college career, and now here…It was fun to have him courtside.”
Indiana improves to 1-0 when Kutcher sits courtside, and 0-4 when he does not this season. Food for thought for Clark and the Fever.
Clark Talks Growing Confidence
It may eventually get lost in the history books, but nothing about Clark’s performance against the Sparks is orthodox.
She hit big shots after a slow start, finished with a double-double, and got the win on the road in Los Angeles of all arenas. It was also her sixth career game, and she’s just 22-years-old.
A slow start for Clark is speeding up, and so is her success as an individual and a teammate. She talked about her growing confidence postgame.
“I feel like I’ve felt pretty comfortable over the course of the last couple games,” Clark said on May 24. “I think just playing with a different energy about myself and confidence. Just trying to remind myself that it’s not all about the scoring, it’s not all about the shots going in. How am I gonna impact the game in other ways? I thought I did a really good job in that area for this team tonight.”
Clark delivered a performance for the history books in the Fever’s first victory of 2024. And she did it in all the ways that saw her drafted to Indiana with the first overall pick of the draft.
Her career has officially begun.
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