12 hours ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Valkyries clamp down on Caitlin Clark, pull away in fourth quarter to beat Fever
Stopping Caitlin Clark? No problem for the Golden State Valkyries.
In front of a frenzied sellout Chase Center crowd, Golden State stormed back from a 13-point third-quarter deficit to take down Clark's Indiana Fever 88-77 on Thursday night. The expansion club was powered by 45 bench points and Kayla Thornton 's 16-point showing.
Fans showing up for the Clark Show might have left disappointed, but they did get to witness one of the most exhilarating Valkyries performances in the young franchise's history.
Clark was held without a 3-pointer for only the second time in her WNBA career while being heavily guarded by the combination of Thornton, Veronica Burton and Tiffany Hayes. Clark finished with 11 points, nine assists, six turnovers and shot 3-for-14 in 34 minutes.
'Coach gave us a great game plan,' Hayes said of Natalie Nakase. 'We knew we had to stay up on her. We knew she's a three-level scorer. I think it was a great team defensive game today — everybody was locked in, making sure she didn't get any easy looks.'
After a disappointing effort against league-worst Dallas two days earlier, Thursday's showing was much closer to what Nakase expects from her team.
Valkyries 88, Fever 77
FG FT Reb
INDIANA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Howard 23:53 6-11 1-1 1-5 2 2 13
Hull 32:45 1-5 0-0 0-3 3 3 3
Boston 29:48 7-11 2-2 3-12 1 5 17
Clark 34:23 3-14 5-5 0-7 9 3 11
Mitchell 33:00 6-11 3-4 0-1 2 5 16
Cunningham 23:54 3-7 0-0 1-6 1 0 9
Colson 13:13 2-3 0-0 0-1 2 2 5
Dantas 8:02 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 3
Timpson 0:29 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Turner 0:29 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200:00 29-66 11-12 5-35 20 22 77
Percentages: FG .439, FT .917.
3-Point Goals: 8-29, .276 (Cunningham 3-7, Boston 1-1, Colson 1-2, Hull 1-2, Dantas 1-3, Mitchell 1-5, Howard 0-2, Clark 0-7).
Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 3 (Boston 3).
Turnovers: 16 (Clark 6, Mitchell 4, Boston 3, Howard 2, Colson).
Steals: 3 (Boston, Clark, Colson).
Technical Fouls: None.
Percentages: FG .429, FT .704.
3-Point Goals: 9-31, .290 (Thornton 5-8, Bibby 2-6, Martin 1-4, Burton 1-6, Leite 0-1, Billings 0-2, Hayes 0-2, Talbot 0-2).
Team Rebounds: 12. Team Turnovers: None.
Blocked Shots: 5 (Amihere 4, Burton).
Turnovers: 7 (Billings 2, Leite 2, Hayes, Martin, Thornton).
Steals: 10 (Talbot 3, Amihere, Bibby, Billings, Hayes, Leite, Martin, Thornton).
Technical Fouls: None.
A_18,064 (18,064). T_2:04.
'That's what I was looking for,' she said. 'Maximum effort for 80 possessions. … We had to make some adjustments, but much happier with the effort.'
Golden State discombobulated the Fever's offense, which turned the ball over 16 times. A fourth-quarter traveling call against Clark led to the possession on which Hayes drove to the rim to give the Valkyries their first second-half lead.
Golden State has taken out teams' top scorers before this season. In a blowout win over Las Vegas last week, the Valkyries double- and triple-teamed center A'ja Wilson, daring other players to shoot from distance. They had an inverse approach against the Fever (6-6).
'We were being disruptive,' Nakase said. 'We know that (Clark) doesn't like physicality. We know that she wants to get to that left step-back. … We were just making sure that she wasn't getting into rhythm and then that she was just seeing multiple bodies.'
With Hayes glued to Clark, the Valkyries sent a double team whenever a pick happened in front of Clark. The Iowa alum didn't make her first field goal until the 4:12 mark of the second quarter. She finished the first half 1-for-8 with three turnovers, two points and six assists.
'They did a really good job of being physical with her,' said interim Indiana coach Austin Kelly, who was filling in for Stephanie White, who was away due to a personal matter. 'That's going to be the game plan all year long. I thought early on we were moving it … but we got away from that in the second half. I think the lack of ball movement allowed them to really beat her up. When we move it, a lot of good things happen, we are able to punch it, we get to our sprays, and it gets back to her. That's when she is going to get the good looks. But they did a good job of being physical and making it tough for her.'
The Valkyries struggled to contain center Aliyah Boston, who scored 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting for the best paint-scoring team in the WNBA. But she scored just two points in the second half while the Valkyries surged.
'We were not guarding her the right way' in the first half, Nakase said. 'They were rolling into certain actions, so we adjusted it, and our (guard) was there, ready and early. (In the first half) we were late. We were getting backdoor cut. We were giving up layups. That's not what we wanted, because they're the top team in paint points.'
The Valkyries shot 35.1% from the floor in the opening two stanzas, even while playing a strong defensive game. Indiana went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to take its 13-point lead, but Golden State stormed back with a 26-11 run in the fourth.
The Valkyries went up 76-70 on a Monique Billings and-1 with 3:23 left. They extended their lead to eight points on two Chloe Bibby free throws. Forward Laeticia Amihere blocked a Lexie Bull layup attempt before Thornton sank her fifth 3-pointer of the night to put the Valkyries ahead by 11.
'We keep talking about how we want to be the best defensive team,' Nakase said. 'We'll hang our hats on the defensive end. In the first half, we're like, that ain't our best, so we wanted to make sure they saw our best. In terms of disruption, physicality and finishing with a rebound, that's what you saw tonight.'
The Valkyries shot 51.5% from the field in the second half after going ice cold in the second quarter. They had a 6:20 stretch in that frame in which they missed seven consecutive shots, allowing Indiana to get on a roll.
The bench awoke in the third quarter, guided by Bibby. The Australian forward tallied 12 points and was a game-high plus-25 in her first WNBA contest. She hit two 3-pointers and notched a steal while being assigned to Boston late in the contest.
'Whatever my reads are, I'm going to do whatever they ask of me,' she said. 'The crowd was just loud as heck. It was incredible. Their energy, I think everybody just fed off of it, and it just made it so much fun.'
Golden State faces Connecticut (2-10 entering Friday) on Sunday in the second of a five-game homestand. Thursday night was a rebound performance, but also a message to the league: The Valkyries can defend with the best of them.
'It just shows that we wanted in Dallas to think it was going to be easy, because their record, and the record is not who they are,' Thornton said. 'That is a wakeup. I'm glad we went through that, because we came in today focused on what we needed to. (Indiana) team, and we just executed what we needed to. … We got back to where we needed to.'
