Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever ultimately caught a necessary breather after playing 11 games in 20 days. In their first game back from a four-day break, Clark tied a rookie record with seven 3-pointers in a win over Washington on Friday. It was the best all-around shooting performance of her short career.
Mental and physical exhaustion plagued the Fever (3-10) through a packed slate of games every 1.8 days on average that included two back-to-backs with overnight travel. Such a grueling stretch occurred only once in the WNBA dating back to 2007, according to ESPN Stats and Information. The 2011 Washington Mystics went 1-10 during a 20-day stretch toward the end of a season that started with the team rostering four rookies.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever ultimately caught a necessary breather after playing 11 games in 20 days. In their first game back from a four-day break, Clark tied a rookie record with seven 3-pointers in a win over Washington on Friday. It was the best all-around shooting performance of her short career.
Mental and physical exhaustion plagued the Fever (3-10) through a packed slate of games every 1.8 days on average that included two back-to-backs with overnight travel. Such a grueling stretch occurred only once in the WNBA dating back to 2007, according to ESPN Stats and Information. The 2011 Washington Mystics went 1-10 during a 20-day stretch toward the end of a season that started with the team rostering four rookies.
Fever assistant coach Karima Christmas-Kelly was one of those rookies.
“You’re just trying to find your way in the league, but also having to play through games and figure it out that way,” Christmas-Kelly told Yahoo Sports. “I think that kind of correlates here with the young team that we’ve had and having to figure out a lot of these games early, especially against some high-caliber teams in New York and Connecticut within that 11 games in 20-day stretch.”
The ’11 Mystics, who finished 2010 tied with the second-best record, were already struggling at 5-17 when they hit that brutal stretch in late August and early September. It included one homestand and a singular win in the ninth game. The Mystics finished 6-28, slightly better than the Tulsa Shock (3-31).
Injuries plagued that team and first-year head coach Trudi Lacey relied heavily on Crystal Langhorne without the availability of All-Stars Monique Currie (knee) and Alana Beard (foot). Young talent had to “learn on the fly,” Christmas-Kelly said. Rookies Victoria Dunlap, the Mystics’ No. 11 overall pick, and Jasmine Thomas, the Storm’s No. 12 pick traded to Washington in an April five-team deal, earned starts.
Ta’Shia Phillips, the Dream’s first-round draft pick who was packaged in a trade for 2007 No. 1 overall pick Lindsey Harding, came off Washington’s bench for 10 games. Christmas-Kelly, the Mystics’ No. 23 pick, played in 14 games off the bench, averaging 3.4 points in 10.1 minutes per game.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever ultimately caught a necessary breather after playing 11 games in 20 days. In their first game back from a four-day break, Clark tied a rookie record with seven 3-pointers in a win over Washington on Friday. It was the best all-around shooting performance of her short career.
Mental and physical exhaustion plagued the Fever (3-10) through a packed slate of games every 1.8 days on average that included two back-to-backs with overnight travel. Such a grueling stretch occurred only once in the WNBA dating back to 2007, according to ESPN Stats and Information. The 2011 Washington Mystics went 1-10 during a 20-day stretch toward the end of a season that started with the team rostering four rookies.
Fever assistant coach Karima Christmas-Kelly was one of those rookies.
“You’re just trying to find your way in the league, but also having to play through games and figure it out that way,” Christmas-Kelly told Yahoo Sports. “I think that kind of correlates here with the young team that we’ve had and having to figure out a lot of these games early
Season averages: Points (FG%/3FG%/FT%), rebounds, assists (turnovers), steals, blocks
Advanced stats: Player efficiency rating, offensive/defensive rating (via Her Hoop Stats), true shooting percentage, win shares per 40, plus/minus
Caitlin Clark
Season averages: 16.3 PPG (37.3/33/89.7), 4.9 RPG, 6 APG (5.4 TOV), 1.5 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Advanced (through 13 games): 15.7 PER; 93.8/110.7 O/DRTG; 55.3 TS%; 0.01 WS; -10.5 +/-
Totals through 13 games: 212 PTS (62-166/36-109/52-58), 64 REB, 78 AST (70 TOV), 19 STL, 11 BLK
Notable league rankings: Clark continues to remain top-10 in many offensive totals because she’s played more games than nearly every other player. She ranks fourth in assists per game behind Alyssa Thomas (8.5), Natasha Cloud (7.6) and Jackie Young (7.0), and sixth in assist percentage (33.2). But ranks ninth in assists per 40 minutes (7.4).
She ranks 15th in scoring, 31st in rebounds, 18th in steals and 21st in blocks through Tuesday night’s games. Her 27.7% usage rate remains top-10 and she leads the league in free-throw rate at 32.1%.
Candace Parker
Season averages: 18.5 PTS (52.3/42.3/73.3), 9.5 REB, 3.4 AST (2.8TOV), 1.3 STL, 2.3 BLK
Advanced (full season): 27.4 PER; 112.5/88.4 O/DRTG; 58.2 TS%; 0.24 WS; 3.5 +/-
Totals through 13 games: 223 PTS (83-176/6-12/51-74), 126 REB, 53 AST (33 TOV), 23 STL, 30 BLK
Notable league rankings (full season): Parker led the league in rebounding as a rookie, finished fifth in scoring and 17th in assists per game. Those remain among the best numbers of her career. The advanced stats ranked top-five across the line with the exception of her 11th-best offensive rating. She was named Player of the Week once in August.
Clark continues to stay on pace with Sabrina Ionescu, the No. 1 overall pick by New York in the 2020 WNBA Draft. The rookie joined Parker and Ionescu as the only players in WNBA history with at least 100 points, 30 rebounds and 30 assists in their first six career games. Clark and Ionescu are the only players in WNBA history with at least 150 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists in their first 10 career games.
But Clark is the only true rookie to do it. Ionescu sustained a Grade 3 ankle sprain in her third game and did not play again her rookie season. It gave her a full year to rehab while also working on her body and nutrition in preparation for the physical play of the WNBA. Seven of those 10 games were played with that advantage in her second season. Ionescu had 179 points, 75 rebounds and 79 assists through her first 13 games.
Clark and Ionescu each lifted college women’s basketball to new heights while setting offensive records. Ionescu is the triple-double queen to Clark’s logo-3 scoring kingdom and is the only 2K-1K-1K player in NCAA Division I history (Clark fell 10 rebounds short). That offensive threat meant she was also the defensive focus immediately while leading the worst team in the league. Because of her injury, fans didn’t see how that would have played out for the rest of the season and if she would have faced the same difficulties as Clark over the first month.
Ionescu didn’t take off offensively until 2022 — 33 games into her career and in her third season. She made her first All-Star team and was named All-WNBA Second Team, averaging 17.4 ppg (eighth), 7.1 rpg (12th) and 6.3 apg (third).
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