She makes history every time she plays, and each game seems like an event for every game. You never know what you will see from her when she is on the court. It’s phenomenal. She’s special. You keep asking for more, and she delivers. Caitlin Clark is a special player, indeed.
I have to admit I am not a basketball fan. I don’t like how the game is today, where players chuck up 3s recklessly or worry about their points rather than passing the ball to their teammates.
You couldn’t pay me to watch a New York Knicks game since the offense is so inconsistent. I have no idea what the Brooklyn Nets want to do since the franchise moved to New York from New Jersey. I don’t watch the New York Liberty play because I find them boring. Watching college basketball in town is more like a job than enjoying it.
It took Caitlin Clark to get my love of the game back finally. I started watching her games after reading about her performances in the newspaper for several years now. It’s hard not to notice when she has become a talking point on television. I haven’t had this much fun watching basketball since covering Ridgefield Park High School boys varsity basketball (Ridgefield Park Scarlets) for a defunct Ridgefield Park Patriot and during Jason Kidd’s days with the New Jersey Nets.
I finally became interested in watching her in the NCAA tournament in the last two years as she chased a championship. I wanted her to win it after she put her heart and soul into Iowa. It never happened. That’s the luck of sports. How many great players in college did not win it all? But not winning it all didn’t deter me from watching her in the WNBA. Her skills as a 3-point shooter and playmaker would serve her well in the pros. There was a reason why she was billed as the new face of the league. She would bring new fans and more sponsors to a league that could use both.
Clark has lived up to the hype and then some in her rookie season. On Wednesday, she all but clinched the WNBA Rookie of the Year after being named the league’s Eastern Conference Player of the Month and the league Rookie of the Month for August. She also got Player of the Week twice last month. She also won the Rookie of the Month in May and July.
On Wednesday night, the Fever star became the fifth WNBA player to have multiple triple-doubles in a season by notching her second triple-double in the Fever’s 93-86 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. She scored 24 points to go with ten rebounds and ten assists. She also collected 102 triples this season by hitting four three-pointers, which is good enough for her to be the quickest to reach 100 3s in WNBA history by doing so in her 34th game of her pro career.
She makes history every time she plays, and each game seems like an event for every game. You never know what you will see from her when she is on the court. It’s phenomenal. She’s special. You keep asking for more, and she delivers. Caitlin Clark is a special player, indeed.
There is a reason celebrities attend her home and road games, why her games are frequently on national television, and why she is a must-watch TV every game.
I was late for work on Wednesday night because I wanted to watch the entire game. I would do myself a disservice by just watching a portion of it, and I did not want to miss anything memorable. It was the right decision, even if it got me in trouble with my FedEx manager. I don’t want to regret missing don’t moments.
Clark put on a highlight reel in the third quarter. I felt she would do something special when she took charge in a huddle with her teammates to start the second half after the Sparks took a 48-47 halftime lead. I had never seen that from her before in the games she played for the fever. That was a mark of a confident player who knew what to do for her to take charge like that.
The rookie teed it up by hitting a 3 to break a 55-55 tie, and her signature stepback shot had the crowd roaring. It gave the Fever momentum, and they were about to break out with the idea that a shot would get her going. She followed that up by stealing the ball off Dearica Hamby and scoring a layup, giving the home team a 60-55 lead.
Her best moment of the night came when she had a chance to make a layup by making a beeline to the basket. Instead, she decided to pass the ball to Aliyah Boston, who could have her own shot. Instead, Boston passed it to Erica Wheeler, who shot the 3-pointer to give the Fever a 66-61 lead. That play is what basketball should be about—beautiful ball movement resulting in flowing offense. It was a thing of beauty: Clark’s creation and her teammates’ following a purist’s example are refreshing in this day and age since it’s unheard of now.
Clark then hit her signature 3-point stepback shot to give the Fever a 69-64 lead. Later, she capped off a great night by getting her 10th rebound of the game with 10.2 seconds left. It was just another night for Miss Clark at the office.
Yet, for everything we see now, there is the issue of getting there. It has not been an easy rookie season full of uber-expectations and struggles. She has been criticized by Sheryl Swoopes, Angel Reese, and Dijonai Carrington and has been a bounty target for Chennedy Carter, Diamond DeShields, and Reese. Her teammates never had back then, either.
Throughout all this nonsense, she never lost joy in the game and her competitive spirit. She never whined. She kept working and grinding, and she did it in class. That is who Clark is, which is why she is a winner.
Clark is a special case for me- a player who brought me back to the game. I admire her, and can’t get enough of her. Caitlin Clark is one of a kind.
