Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark’s offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.
Clark was awarded a foul during Monday’s tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.
Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark’s flopping antics.
Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn’t sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.
Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89â72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they’ve beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.
Over the last two years, the friendly rivalry between Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese has elevated two gamesâwomen's college basketball and the WNBAâto never-before-seen heights.
Like all truly great sports rivalries, however, Clark and Reese's rivalry is built on mutual respect. On Saturday morning, Clark demonstrated that by praising both Reese and Sky center Kamilla Cardoso before the Fever played Chicago in the afternoon.
"The thing about (Reese), she's been so dominant at what she does ever since we played in high school," Clark said via Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. "She's always had a knack for being able to rebound the ball and that's just translated immediately to the WNBA."
Caitlin Clark had high praise for Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso ahead of todayâs game.
â(Angel) has been so dominant at what she does ever since we played in high school.â
Reese entered Saturday averaging 8.2 rebounds per game, ninth in the WNBA.
"Kamilla caused us a lot of problems in the national championship," Clark said of Cardoso. "Kamilla is just scratching the surface of her potential... it's been a lot of fun to watch those two kind of evolve over their college careers."
Each of the trio had a role to play in Indiana's eventual 71â70 win. Clark scored 11 points, pulled down eight rebounds and gave out eight assists; Reese scored eight points and pulled down 13 rebounds; Cardoso scored 11 points and had six rebounds.
1. You rarely see Stephen A. Smith left speechless, but that was the case on Monday morningâs episode of First Take thanks to panelist Monica McNutt.
After a discussion on Chennedy Carterâs cheap shot foul on Caitlin Clark that was the talk of the sports world over the weekend, Smith tried to take credit for his show giving extensive coverage to the WNBA.
McNutt, however, was not having it.
âWho talks about the WNBA, who talks about womenâs sports more than First Take,â asked Stephen A.
McNutt was not having the revisionist history.
âStephen A., respectfully, with your platform you couldâve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,â replied McNutt.
This left Smith stunned and all he could muster was a pair of back-to-back âwows.â
A little back-and-forth followed:
McNutt: âYou know youâre my guyâŚâ
Smith: âWho does more than us?â
McNutt: âStephen A., Iâm talking to you. Donât do that. Iâm talking to you about the power than you have.â
Smith: âOK, OK. I got it. Youâre my girl, but you missed a lot episodes of First Take. You missed a lot.â
McNutt: âStephen A., three years ago you would not talk about the WNBA at this level. Donât do that.â
Itâs one thing for McNutt to disagree with Stephen A., but after he challenged her, she doubled down and didnât back down. That was impressive.
Sadly, moderator Molly Qerim cut off the discussion, which couldâve been riveting television of McNutt and Smith continued to argue over First Takeâs coverage of the WNBA.
I donât want to paint the media with one brush, but as someone who covers this stuff, Iâd say 99% of sprots media, including First Take, did not cover the WNBA the way theyâre covering it now. And even now, theyâre not covering the WNBA.
Theyâre covering Caitlin Clark.
2. I donât follow the WNBA, so I donât know what the unwritten rules are or what protocol is for something like this. However, if Iâm just comparing it to the NBA game, what I donât understand about the foul that Chennedy Carter committed against Caitlin Clark is how none of Clarkâs Fever teammates went after Carter and just let her get away with the cheap shot.
It's also good to see the refs in the WNBA are just as incompetent as the refs in all the other sports by calling this a common foul. (It got changed to a Flagrant-1 the following day.)
3. Since there has been a massive amount of coverage regarding the future of Inside the NBA over the past few weeks (especially in this column), I thought this nugget was worth sharing.
Last Thursday, more people watched Inside the NBA on TNT (2.8 million) after the Mavericks eliminated the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals than Game 5 of the Panthers-Rangers Eastern Conference Finals game on ESPN (2.1 million).
Mavericks/Timberwolves game 5: 6.3 million (6.148m on TNT, 114K on truTV)
Inside the NBA (11:01-11:53P): 2.8m
Panthers/Rangers on ESPN: 2.1m
College Softball World Series on ESPN2:
Oklahoma St/Florida: 783K Stanford/Texas: 697K
â Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) May 31, 2024
4. As proven here by Clemson, all of baseball needs more attempts at the hidden ball trick.
5. It has to be demoralizing for a hometown team when the fans in the stands are rooting for the opponent. Look at what took place in the San Francisco Giantsâ ballpark on Sunday when New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 9th.
Look at all the Yankee fans stand up when Juan Soto made contact.
â Joe Randazzo đđđ (@LibrarianJoe_) June 3, 2024
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Charles Barkley.
The Inside the NBA host discusses the possibility of TNT losing the NBA in the current television rights negotiations, his frustration with the lack of communication from Warner Brothers Discovery about the negotiations, whether the show could continue on another network, reaction from fans to the possible end of Inside the NBA, the awkwardness of still having to work next season for TNT if it loses the NBA beginning in the 2025â26 season, and the lack of loyalty from the NBA and what would make him decide between ESPN, NBC and Amazon if he became a free agent.
Barkley also goes off on CNN for never telling him that his show with Gayle King, King Charles, was canceled, he explains what could make him be the subject of a comedy roast, who the two nicest GOATS are in sports, the Lakers saying that LeBron James doesn't have a say in their coaching search and the reaction to his recent Caitlin Clark rant.
Following Barkley, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for the weekly âTraina Thoughtsâ segment. This week's topics include the passing of Bill Walton, Ăngel HernĂĄndez's retirement from Major League Baseball, the mystery behind the Dov Kleiman Twitter account and the latest story about a restaurant charging for a ridiculous service.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since hard fouls against Caitlin Clark are all the rage these days, letâs take a look at some of the hardest fouls in NBA history.
Two days after the Indiana Feverâs 71-70 win over the Sky, Weatherspoon wrote, âPhysical play, intensity, and a competitive spirit are hallmarks of Chicago Sky basketball. Chennedy got caught up in the heat of the moment in an effort to win the game. She and I have discussed what happened and that it was not appropriate, nor is it what we do or who we are.â
The Sky coach continued, âChennedy understands that there are better ways to handle situations on the court, and she will learn from this, as we all will. As a team, we will grow together and continue to work hard to display strong leadership and set a positive example for our competitors, fans, and partners.â
In the call heard âround the WNBA, Carter shoulder-checked Clark in the third quarter of Saturdayâs matchup and was assessed a common foul that was retroactively changed to a Flagrant 1 upon further review.
Carter refused to answer questions about Clark or the dust-up after the game. The Sky guard did, however, make some noise on social media chirping at Clarkâs talent and impact in the league. Carter, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 draft, scored a team-high 19 points in the Skyâs loss.
Though Carter avoided discipline from the league for her flagrant foul on Clark, the WNBA fined Angel Reese for failing to make herself available to the media after the game and fined the Sky organization for not upholding media policies.
