After rekindling her feud with Angel Reese in a 93-58 win over the Chicago Sky. Thursday night it was time for Caitlin Clark and Atlanta Dream star Rhyne Howard to exchange pleasantries. Maybe it’s because the two teams are tired of seeing each other after playing a home-and-home, with each team winning on the opposing team’s home floor following the Fever’s highly contested 81-76 win after a 91-90 home loss on Tuesday night.
Clark And Howard Exchange Words
Late in the first quarter of Thursday’s matchup, Howard and Clark had a pretty heated confrontation. Clark, the former Iowa legend, took exception to Howard playing extremely tight defense, which resulted in a foul and her bumping Clark in the aftermath. Following the exchange Howard can be seen telling Clark to …
“Try it.”
That prompted Clark to say what looked like this in response:
“I’m not scared of you.”
Once again, as with the Reese dustup, cooler heads prevailed and the game went on without another altercation. But it’s clear this season that players around the WNBA will once again test the toughness of Clark, who in many ways is the league’s new chosen one.
Lisa Leslie Likes The Disdain Being Displayed
Speaking on the “Locked On Women’s Basketball” podcast, WNBA legend and two-time WNBA champion had this to say about the on-court animosity being shown between Clark and Reese.
“When you look at what happened with Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in college, you know it was like the explosion that we needed. We’ve been playing this style and grace of basketball for so many years, but there’s some X-factors here… Caitlin and Angel, I think, just took it to another level.”
The arrival of those two has done wonders for the game of women’s basketball.
Clark Didn’t Hit Three-Pointer In Win
For the first time in her WNBA career, Clark a sniper from deep, didn’t hit a three-pointer. The do-it-all lead guard finished with 11 points, six assists and four rebounds, but an ugly 0-5 from deep. It’s the first time she’s failed to make a three in a game since 2022, which also happened to be her sophomore season at Iowa.
Caitlin Clark Is Down For Whatever On The Court
Caitlin Clark is no victim. She’s a dog. She surprises players by how aggressive she plays. She initiated plenty of the contact that leads to these brief confrontations, or tantrums by other players. You could say she plays the game the right way, with a combination of flair and grit in the trenches. Maybe a little dirty at times, but it is what it is.
She can play many styles, and her game can adapt to the environment. Instead of making this an argument about whether or not Black women are racist towards Clark, how about just crediting her with playing the game the only way she knows how, which is going all out to win. Even in a poor shooting performance, her impact on the game is felt. The fact that she is even on the court, creates tension for the opposing team.
