INDIANAPOLIS — The season’s second meeting between the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings could not have come at a much better time, at least as far as the involved superstars are concerned.
Meeting for the third time as professionals, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, two of the past three No. 1 draft picks, were fully healthy and playing some of their best basketball entering Friday’s clash at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The result?
Absolute cinema.
Clark and Bueckers clocked nearly identical stat lines, both finishing with 29 points on 11 made field goals, two 3s and five free throws.
Bueckers rounded out her line with six assists, a couple steals and six rebounds for the Wings, who led entering the fourth.
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Clark dished 10 dimes, four of which came in the final stanza as the Fever rallied, then pulled away for a 98-87 victory.
The former college rivals — and soon-to-be USA Basketball teammates — are the present and future of women’s basketball. They proved as much Friday, highlighting their performance with a third-quarter showcase that saw them effectively go one-on-one over long stretches.
Clark converted the finger roll to give the Fever a 47-45 lead, Bueckers responded with a triple in transition.
Clark assisted on a Kelsey Mitchell 3, then converted a layup and an 18-footer; Bueckers matched those buckets with a 25-footer and a pullup of her own to maintain Dallas’ one-point lead.
Haymaker after haymaker.
Bucket after bucket.
“Two great players making great plays,” Fever coach Stephanie White said.
“When you’ve got two great players who can create shots for themselves really easily, there are flows of the game that I think you’re going to see (individuals going back-and-forth),” she added.
“We see it in the NBA all the time. The players keep getting better and now we’re seeing it in the W as well,” White continued. “I don’t know how many possessions there were, but it was fun to watch for a little while and then the biggest thing is how you get everybody else involved outside of those moments.”
Indeed.
Clark, who outscored Bueckers 17-13 in the third, pushed the Fever lead to 10 midway through the fourth with a running 3-pointer, then activated herself as a passer, registering four assists with zero turnovers over the final five minutes.
Indiana outscored Dallas, 35-21, in the fourth, with Bueckers limited to four points and two field goal attempts.
“We tried to throw a lot of different things at her,” Clark said of her counterpart. “We had some miscommunications, especially in that third-quarter spurt, where she was just completely wide open, so that’s on our group to figure that out. … But Paige is a tremendous player. She takes what the defense gives her. She doesn’t force anything. She’s smooth. She finds the open teammate. She’s a really tough guard.”
As for 22, Friday marked her 13th career game with at least 25 points and 10 assists. She’s done that seven times this season alone, which is more than any other player has in their entire career, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
That is remarkable. Extraordinary, even.
But as Clark exited for the final minute of regulation, waving on the crowd as she joined her teammates on the bench, nothing felt out of the ordinary about her performance.
Those numbers were almost … expected.
And that’s part of the mystique.
“I’m in awe watching CC play,” veteran guard Tyasha Harris said. “Sometimes it’s like, it’s normal. And it’s not. It’s just great to be on her side officially this year.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caitlin Clark left teammate ‘in awe’ in duel vs Paige Bueckers, showing WNBA is in good hands
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
