Angel Reese wins over Kaitlyn Clark, Indiana Fever

Within minutes of tipoff in any game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, one thing becomes clear.

These teams don’t really like each other. And the wave of rivalry that is spreading across the 181 miles that separate Indianapolis and Chicago is a driving force for the next wave of success in the WNBA.

That was evident to the sold-out crowd at Wintrust Arena. The popularity of newbies Kaitlynn Clark, Angel Reese and Camila Cardoso influenced attendance.

Clark’s jerseys – yellow in both Iowa and Indiana – were packed to the stands as fans waved posters asking for autographs and photos. The cheers for Sky still overwhelmed the Indiana contingent – ​​but barely, as the crowd roared in equal enthusiasm for Clark’s 3-pointers and Reese’s and-one plays.

All three novices accepted every aspect of the campaign. Clark broke the Fever single-game record with 13 assists, dissecting the Sky defense with precision to spark a 26–5 run in the third quarter. Cardoso and Reese paced the entire Fever roster with a combined 26 boards. And Reese delivered his eighth consecutive double-double, scoring 25 points and leading the Sky offense in the fourth quarter.

“I’m a dog,” Reese said after the win. “You can’t teach this.”

In three games this season, the Fever and the Sky have made a statement: The future of the WNBA is here and it lives in the Midwest.

But is it enough to create a rivalry? Coaches and players on both sides are still not so convinced.

“I’m sure the only people who have seen it as a rivalry are you,” Clarke told the media. “For us, it’s just a game of basketball.”

Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon agreed, dismissing the idea before Sunday’s game.

“We haven’t done anything to consider anything a rivalry,” Weatherspoon said. “We don’t see it as a rivalry. not us. We look at it as a game that we have to go out and win. And we recognize how close we all are across distances, but it’s about us trying to be better. We are approaching everything this way. “In every single game, our approach is to get better every single day.”

So maybe it’s not a rivalry. not just yet. But a glimpse of something has already started appearing.

That promise was visible when Fever guard Erica Wheeler drew a technical foul for trying to knock the ball out of Marina Mabrey’s hands on a dead ball. And then when NaLyssa Smith bent over to make the “too small” gesture at Reese after scoring. Even more so when Reese made the game-tying basket over Smith a few minutes later, and danced back to the bench with a smile on Smith.

Photos: Chicago Sky 88, Indiana Fever 87

And basketball fans? Whether it’s in Chicago, Indiana or the WNBA – they love it. In a matter of weeks, any match between Sky and Fever has become the hottest ticket in town.

The get-in-the-door price for Sunday’s game exceeded $300 and sideline seats exceeded $5,000. Local royalty and national celebrities lined up in courtside seats: Lil Durk, Chance the Rapper, Jason Sudeikis, Jalen Brunson, Sheryl Swoopes. The teams’ last meeting drew nearly 3 million viewers — a record for any WNBA game — and Sunday’s ESPN broadcast could follow suit.

“I love it,” Reese said. “I love it for the women’s game. They haven’t sold out a crowd in a long time, so to be able to do that and be able to be here in this moment, moving women’s basketball forward is important to me.

And Clark called for an even bigger stage for the game, pointing out that moving the game to the United Center – which was booked for the Russ concert – could have doubled attendance to a maximum capacity of 21,000 fans. .

“I’m surprised we’re not playing at the United Center,” Clark said after the Fever’s game against the Atlanta Dream on Friday. “I thought it would have been really good for the game and really good for all the women’s basketball fans in Chicago. There may be some kind of dispute that I am not aware of. Obviously, this is a little above my pay grade.

Moving the matchup up could be a conversation for the future when the Fever return in August. But on Sunday, the small venue provided an explosive atmosphere – which offered both a help and a hindrance for Sky in an extremely thin game.

Sky has struggled to keep his cool this season. That’s not surprising – they’re a young team that plays best with high tempo and high emotion, which feeds off the vibrant personalities of stars like Reese and Chennady Carter. But that can often translate into a carelessness of youth, which could lead to the team losing eight of its 10 clutch games before Sunday.