If the WNBA wants a true Clark-Reese rivalry, the Sky must grow up quickly

INDIANAPOLIS — Angel Reese stepped to the free-throw line Saturday as the boo birds rained down their chorus on her at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Chicago Sky forward had just been on the other end of a flagrant foul committed by Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, and the sellout crowd filled with Fever fans let Reese have it. The boos erupted into cheers when Reese missed the first attempt off the back iron, and they quieted only a little when she sank the second.

In that moment, at the 4:38 mark of the third quarter, the WNBA’s marquee season opener felt like a rivalry. But by the final buzzer, it was clear that this matchup is not. At least, not yet. The Fever cruised to a 93-58 victory, their fourth win over the Sky in five tries across the last two years. The back-and-forth Clark and Reese exchanged in college — when Reese’s LSU knocked off Clark’s Iowa in the 2023 national championship, followed by Clark ending Reese’s LSU career the next season in the Elite Eight — has not manifested between their teams in the WNBA.

Despite the Fever having the Sky’s number, that’s done little to quell the competitive fire between each team’s young star. There’s no love lost between Reese and Clark, evidenced by the physicality they’ve shown each other as they’ve transitioned to the pro ranks. Last year, Reese committed a flagrant foul on Clark by whacking her on the head as Clark went up for a layup. This year, Clark committed a flagrant foul on Reese by swiping down on Reese’s arm and pushing her in the back as she tried to shoot near the rim.

“Basketball play,” Reese said matter-of-factly after the game. “Refs got it right. Move on.”

The Sky tried to turn the page, cutting the Fever’s lead to 11 points after Reese’s flagrant free throw and Courtney Vandersloot’s subsequent layup on the next possession, but as the game wore on, Chicago wore down. The result was a lopsided contest in which the Fever looked like a title contender and the Sky looked out of their league.

“They’re loaded top to bottom. They got a great bench as well,” first-year Sky coach Tyler Marsh said of the Fever. “Yeah, we got our work cut out for us, but we’re up for the challenge. We’re not backing down from anything.”

That mindset was clear when Reese, who finished with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, took exception to Clark’s hard foul. Reese immediately popped up off the court to scold Clark as Clark walked away. Fever center Aliyah Boston quickly wedged herself between Clark and Reese, so that the two never came face-to-face.

When the game resumed, however, the intensity Reese and the Sky expressed regarding the flagrant foul evaporated. What was an 11-point deficit after Vandersloot’s layup ballooned to 20 by the end of the quarter. The Fever ended the period on a 9-0 run that sent the Sky to their bench, struggling to find the answers that came more easily at the start of the game.

“I think we got stagnant,” Marsh said. “It’s one of those things when you look up at the scoreboard and you’re down by 20 (or) 30 points, and you try to get it all back in a possession or two, and I think that’s where teams like Indiana can hurt you because they can get hot quickly.”

Although the game got out of hand for Chicago, Marsh was complimentary of Reese. He has been adamant about using Reese’s full skill set, and her expanded offensive repertoire was on display from tipoff. On Reese’s first bucket, she caught the ball on the right wing with Natasha Howard across from her. As Reese sized up Howard, she used an in-and-out crossover to fake inside before beating the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year outside and driving the lane for a tough layup through contact.

A couple of plays later, Reese caught the ball in the post with Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell on her hip. The Sky star used a shoulder fake to shake Mitchell before easily laying in a right-handed layup. Reese followed that up by drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the second quarter that cut the Fever’s lead to 3 points. The second-year pro made one of her two 3-point attempts — a notable statistic considering she made just 3 of 16 3-pointers during her rookie season.

“My confidence is through the roof right now,” Reese said before the game. “Obviously, Unrivaled was a great experience for me, being able to sharpen up on some things and just being able to show my versatility. (Marsh) wanted me to be more than a rebounder, more than a defender, and just show everything.”

In addition to creating for herself, Reese helped create for teammates by often bringing the ball up the court and initiating a more spaced-out offense that looked night and day from the clogged lanes the Sky worked with last season. Chicago still shot just 29.1% from the field and 22.2% on 3-pointers, as Marsh noted while tipping his cap to the Fever’s stifling defense, but he said there were some promising flashes his team can build on with Reese leading the way.

“That’s a huge priority for us and has been,” Marsh said of Reese’s versatility. “We talked about that a lot in camp. We worked on it. Putting Angel all over (the court). … And again, these are all adjustments and things that are new for our team. … It’s gonna take some time.”

And so will this rivalry.

The potential will always be there because of the locality and familiarity between the Fever and Sky franchises, but it’ll require more than flagrant fouls and fireworks between Reese and Clark to truly give WNBA fans the same theater college fans enjoyed when they dueled in the NCAA Tournament.

For what it’s worth, Reese and Clark have already delivered, albeit on different scales. Reese has 27 double-doubles in just 35 WNBA games. She’s the fastest player in league history to reach 450 points and 450 rebounds, per ESPN, and looks poised for another All-Star nod. Meanwhile, Clark stole the show with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the third triple-double of her career. Her performance against the Sky was a reminder of who the face of the league is and served as an early statement for her MVP candidacy.

“She’s tough to stop,” Marsh said. “You don’t just guard her with one person. You guard her with all five.”

As the Sky look to regroup, they will need to grow quickly to give the Fever a real rivalry game when they meet again at the United Center on June 7. Chicago has time, but the clock is ticking.

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