If Wednesday night’s matchup between Caitlin Clark’s Fever and the Las Vegas Aces was a preview of the WNBA championship series, Indiana still has a lot of work to do.
Clark had an uncharacteristically bad shooting performance. To add insult to injury, she also took an elbow to the face from Vegas’ Jackie Young as the two were positioning themselves for a rebound in the third quarter.
Young was assessed a foul on the play, which Clark argued should be upgraded to a flagrant 1.
However, in fairness, there are some complications with that argument. First, as the replay shows, Clark’s hand clearly contacts Young in the face before Young’s elbow hits Clark. Also, if the elbow hurt Clark terribly in the face, why did she grab her stomach?
In the final analysis, both players hit each other unintentionally.
What followed was an acting performance by both athletes worthy of any Vegas stage act. Despite the foul on Young, nothing would change the outcome.
Clark finished with 16 points on only 6-22 shooting and 1-10 from three-point land.
“I do feel like I get held and get quite a bit of contact throughout the game… it is what it is… I can use my quickness a little bit better,” Clark said of the officiating after the game.
The Fever will get another crack at the Aces on Friday.
