It's time for news that almost nobody cares about but is in a realm that I have gathered a large appreciation for in the past year, the WNBA.
Last year Caitlin Clark basically turned the entire league around and made it profitable and interesting with her presence and her rivalry with Angel Reese of Chicago Sky, was at the center of all of this.
Right now the state of Indiana is getting a basketball treat because not only are the most famous women's team in the world starting off with an epic season, but the Indiana Pacers just recently eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference of the NBA and they were not expected to get that far.
It is difficult to imagine that a WNBA team would be playing in front of a sold-out crowd and having their game televised in a prime-time position on a major network, but that is exactly what happened for the season opener for Indiana. 2 million people watched the game live and the arena, which I am sure they are wishing they had a larger one for, was sold out months ago. In fact, the entire season is damn near sold out and if you want tickets, you will have to buy them 2nd hand and a huge markup. It is truly amazing to me that Caitlin Clark has managed to do this almost entirely on her own.
Her rivalry with Angel Reese originates from when they were both in college and would meet up regularly. Reese's team famously eliminated CC"s Iowa team from the NCAA playoffs several years ago and Angel was pretty mean with her taunting of Caitlin in the process.
Like most people, I didn't even know this happened until a year later when they were hyping up the fact that these two were going to be meeting up again (where Iowa emerged victorious) and that was the year the the "Clark effect" started to take hold on women's basketball.
So naturally, the league and networks thought to capitalize on this rivalry by having these two meet up in the season opener of the entire season over the weekend. Unfortunately for Angel Reese and the rest of the Chicago side, this was a very one-sided game.
Once the first half was over, it was pretty clear what the end result was going to be. Scoring just 53 points is pretty rare, even for a WNBA game, and this was pretty telling as to how Chicago is likely in for a rough season. For the Fever though, this showed that they very well could be one of the best teams in the league because they have rounded out their offense to give other options to the team other than "give the ball to Catilin!"
The crowd erupted where on just the 2nd possession of the game, Indiana gave Caitlin the rock and she nailed a 3-pointer "from the logo" which has become a slogan of hers for how she can make shots from well beyond the 3-point arc.
Caitlin would go on to score a triple-double with 20 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds. These stats say a lot about why she is so valuable to the team because even though she is a scoring threat when shooting with her own hands, she is always looking for the best was to score points in a general sense she is not looking to just pad her own stats, even when her team is already ahead by 20 points. I live this lack of selfishness, and this is part of the reason why she is the highest paid woman in the league.
Thankfully, Indiana has more people for her to pass to this season than last, and they have now got two big girls (that is not meant to be offensive, it is just a fact) that play down low instead of just one. Last year, Indiana was starting to become a bit predictable since nearly every single play consisted of Caitlin shooting from distance or feeding Aliyah Boston in the paint. The screens, while effective, started to become easier to read for the opponents.
I was kind of happy to see that during a screen near the 3 point line, Boston set up a screen for Clark, and as you would expect the defense stayed on Caitlin like white on rice, and she fed the ball to the very tall and strong center that is Aliyah Boston, who took a shot at her own 3-pointer and nailed it. Boston ended up going 1-1 on 3-pointers for the day.
There are the highlights of the game because I know most people wont watch a full game of any WNBA event, but maybe the can get you up to speed as to why I find this so exciting.
Reese had a bad night and I can't really say that I have any sympathy for her. For years she has been as brutal as she can be to try to elevate her own status not by playing better but by attacking the player that the fans love. Reese had a bunch of rebounds, which one would expect from someone her size, but just like last season, many of her rebounds were from her own missed shots near the basket.
It was a great game, well unless you are a Chicago fan.
The next game is vs Atlanta on Tuesday and the Fever already defeated them in the pre-season. But preseason games don't normally really "count" all that much since they mean nothing towards your record and are seen as scrimmages for most coaches. Will Indiana be able to dominate Atlanta as well? We'll find out tomorrow!