The Indiana Fever suffered a 101-93 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night, but there’s a reason why Caitlin Clark was trending on X after the contest. Despite failing to lead her team to a come-from-behind victory over the 6-19 Wings before the All-Star break, Clark broke the single-game assist record that was active for four years. Back in 2020, New York Liberty guard, Courtney Vandersloot, recorded 18 assists in a 100-77 victory over the Indiana Fever, but she’ll now be tasked with dishing out 20 dimes if she wishes to reclaim the top spot.
“I just try to set my teammates up for success, Clark said after her remarkable 19-assist display. “”I think at times I can almost overpass … especially with AB, I’m just looking to set her up so much. My eyes are just always on our post players.” Offensively, we were able to get whatever we wanted all night it felt like. It was just our defense. We gave up 28 points off turnovers. I think 20 of those were in the first half. So that really kills you to start the game, and just got to do a better job taking care of the ball. You give up 100-plus points, you’re not going to win very many games.”
Clark was already favored to secure the Rookie of the Year award prior to the start of last night’s game, but after that splendid performance on national television, I don’t see Clark finishing 2nd in this year’s race. Although the Fever dropped a winnable ball game to a subpar opponent, Clark has the ball club poised to reach the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season. Yes, she is still working on limiting the number of turnovers she commits on a nightly basis (5.6), but she currently leads the team in points (17.1), assists (8.2) and steals (1.5). She’ll get a few days of much-needed rest before she competes in the WNBA All-Star game on Saturday at 8:30 PM.
