‘He thinks he knows ball’: Caitlin Clark on Ashton Kutcher, helping Indiana Fever to first 2024 win and overcoming a slump.

In the same building that Kobe Bryant once won five NBA championships during his 20-year NBA career, Indiana Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark experienced something that the Lakers’ legend often endured.

Bryant fought through slumps by stubbornly shooting his way out of it out of belief he only needed one shot to end it. So did Clark, who made two dagger 3-pointers in the final 2:27 to ensure both the Indiana Fever’s 78-73 win over the LA Sparks and her first WNBA career win on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.

“Kobe’s the best, man,” Clark said afterwards. “I wear his shoes. They’re the best things in the world. Everyone knows the ‘Bruce Lees’ are my babies.”

Not only did Clark emulate Bryant’s footwear. She imitated Bryant’s mannerisms. Despite missing her first seven 3-point attempts, Clark made two critical 3s that snapped the Fever’s five-game losing streak. First, Clark made a 33-foot 3 to give Indiana a 72-66 lead with 2:27 remaining. Then, Clark made a 26-foot 3 to widen the Fever’s cushion to 73-69 at the 1:25 mark. After making that 3, Clark shrugged her shoulders the same way Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry did after making clutch shots.

“That’s just the mentality that you have to have as a competitor,” Clark said. “You want those moments. You embrace those moments when your team needs a big shot. And I was able to create a little separation and get the shot off. It would’ve been nice to hit a few more of those tonight. But hey, we got the job done.”

Clark didn’t just stubbornly shoot her way out of a slump.

After setting the NCAA all-time scoring record through four years at University of Iowa, Clark missed several open shots from deep. Though she finished with 11 points while shooting only 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-9 from deep, Clark impacted the game elsewhere. She added 10 rebounds, eight assists and four steals, categories that showed she wanted to elevate the team’s playmaking and defense. That coincided with Kelsey Mitchell (18 points), Aliyah Boston (17) and Temi Fagbenie (17) all scoring in double figures.

“I remind myself it’s not all about the scoring; it’s not all about the shots going in and how am I going to impact the game in other ways,” Clark said. “I thought I did a really good job in that area for this team tonight. I thought my energy was great. I was trying to motivate this team and dig us out of a whole that we got ourselves into.”

Fitting that Clark helped the Fever overcome a 45-34 half-time deficit over the Sparks (1-3) in front of a handful of NBA players (Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan), a women’s basketball icon (Cheryl Miller) and celebrities (Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jason Sudeikis). Before a record sell-out crowd of 19,103 people, the Fever opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run. After the win, Clark embraced both Kutcher and her parents by their courtside seats.

“He thinks he knows ball. We’ll have to play one-on-one,” Clark joked about Kutcher. “But that’s a fellow Hawkeye and someone who has been very supportive of me over the course of my college career and out here.”

Clark has leaned on that support through a turbulent month. The Fever selected Clark with their No. 1 pick after shattering numerous shooting and scoring records at Iowa. Yet, Indiana labored to an 0-5 start while Clark averaged 20.2 points while shooting only 39.3% from the field and 32.3% from 3 along with eight turnovers per game.

“The only thing that matters is the opinions my teammates have of me and my coaches have of me,” Clark said. “It’s hard. People aren’t in our locker room every day. They don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors. We’re the youngest. We’re the most inexperienced team in this league. People don’t want to give us much grace.

People don’t want to give my teammates much grace. They expect us to be world champions on day one. That’s not realistic. There’s a learning curve here. I feel like we were in a position after this win to be 3-3, but we’re not. We’re 1-5. But nobody has hung their head. We’ve continued to come back and got the same energy and same enthusiasm. I think everybody on this team comes into every single day that we’re going to win the game, no matter who we’re matching up against or who is on the other side of the court.”

That’s partly because of Clark, whom Fever coach Christie Sides said embodies a similar competitiveness that Phoenix Mercury standout Diana Taurasi possesses.

“When it’s time to play, she just goes into a different mode,” Sides said. “Just for her to do that and not let these hits, she has to keep moving forward and keep figuring out her teammates and making the timing with her teammates. That comes. You see it get better every single night.”

It initially did not seem better against the Sparks. Beyond missing her first seven shots, Clark appeared frustrated with the Sparks’ physicality. She also showed annoyance with an official for not giving her the ball to shoot a pair of free throws in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, Clark has fielded criticism for both her struggles and her attention. LeBron James and Charles Barkley also suggested other WNBA players seem jealous of Clark’s stature, despite her role in ensuring the Fever chartered flights and additional league exposure.

To a person, though, Clark and her teammates have maintained they have ignored social media to help their mental health.

“It’s been a whirlwind through the course of the last couple of months. Honestly I feel like I talk to the media more than I talk to my own family,” Clark said. “I’m dead serious, which is really kind of sad in a way. It’s a lot for somebody who is 22 years old. It can be tough at times. Our team is really young. It’s difficult navigating this. I absolutely love it. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

“But I think just getting off social media has been the healthiest thing. I think that’s my job. This is what I love to do. I never want to lose the fun of the game. Nights like tonight remind me why I love basketball and why I started playing basketball. You get a win and you walk off the floor.”

“Then there’s so many young kids screaming your name and love getting to watch you. It’s the little things that remind me every single day why I do this and why I love it. I think the biggest thing is mental health is very important. It’s important for professional athletes and important for student athletes. It’s important for every single person in this world to feel like you have somebody to talk to, so it’s been something we’ve all been trying to navigate and continue to give ourselves grace.”

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Source: Tampa Bay Times