Caitlin Clark’s Fever are rising in WNBA playoff picture, while Angel Reese’s Sky are falling (2024)

CHICAGO — It might’ve been a Barbie World, but it was Caitlin’s House.

In the fourth and final matchup between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — and, you know, the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky — there was no question who the model player was in a pink-festooned Wintrust Arena for “Barbie Night.”

Clark scored a season-high 31 points and added 12 assists in a 100-81 blowout victory in a packed arena Friday night. Meanwhile, Reese struggled to get into rhythm, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Fever are rising, the Sky are falling, and let’s be honest, there’s no race for Rookie of the Year. It was a nice story while it lasted — the continuation of a rivalry born in college, one that has been a welcome addition to the WNBA — but for this award, there’s a first place and second place, and we know the order.

moving up 📈

go inside the locker room after we moved into 6th place in the playoff standings with our win at Chicago. pic.twitter.com/GM3h889wLB

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) August 31, 2024

Before the game, Clark and Reese were asked about the award, and both shrugged it off.

“We both have the same answer, we don’t wake up and think about individual awards,” Clark said. “I know that’s what all of you think we do, that’s what everybody wants to make this about. But both of our teams are competing for playoff spots and that’s our main focus.”

“I think you guys have made it a big thing,” Reese said.

I believe them. I’m sure Reese, the challenger in this scenario, was thinking about it when everyone was gassing her up earlier in the season, but really, that kind of award becomes a focus after you win it.

So let’s not waste time arguing. We know how it’s going to go. Clark, who has the ball in her hand and the Fever flowing through her, is showing that her college success is going to carry over to the WNBA. She looks confident and free. The days of people concern-trolling about WNBA players being mean to her should be over. She’s the one dishing out the punishment now.

“Ifeel like we’re confident, but that’s any team in this league when you’re able to stack some wins,” Clark said. “That’s everything, right?”

On Friday, she went 8 of 14 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. She had 12 assists and three turnovers in 32 minutes. She is averaging 24 points and 8.5 assists since the break. Being left off the Olympic team might’ve been the best thing for her season.

Clark led four players in double digits as the Fever shot 48.5 from the field and hit 13 of 29 3-pointers. Indiana trailed early in the first quarter but took control in the second and cruised from there.

“Honestly, I felt it was a smooth game for us,” she said. “We were flowing well out there. It just felt like pretty basketball. Sometimes I think as basketball players, you can just feel it.”

Reese has been the second-best rookie all season, which is a feat in itself. She had that post-Olympic three-game streak of 20-plus rebounds and broke two Tina Charles rookie records Friday night, but her offensive limitations are becoming more pronounced. She took only nine shots (making four), while her fellow rookie big Kamilla Cardoso took only four (making one). The Sky were missing their Chen, as in quicksilver guard Chennedy Carter, their leading scorer who missed her second consecutive game under “health and safety protocols.” After a hot start, led by guard Lindsay Allen, the offense was a mess.

“We have to get the ball inside,” Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. “That’s who we are. The ball must go inside. It has to go inside to our bigs. They are dominant in there. It helps when they dominate the paint. Then it helps us on the outside. It gives us an opportunity to have a perimeter game.”

Their improvement will come with time. But for now, no one cares about rookie records or double-doubles. Chicago has lost five straight games and six of seven since the Olympic break. It is 11-20 and just a game up on Atlanta for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We’ve got to start playing desperate,” Sky guard Rachel Banham said. “We have to take it to a whole ‘nother level. Do we want to be in the playoffs or not? Are we going to just pack our bags and go home? Let’s figure it out right now.”

Meanwhile, the Fever (16-16) have won five of six and moved into sixth place in the WNBA playoff race, thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker with Phoenix. Their slow start to the season is a memory but not forgotten.

“I remember saying early in the season, I know there’s going to be a moment where we look back on this later in the season and be like, this 1-8 start is going to help us somewhere down the line,” Clark said. “And I think this is now that moment.”

Indiana won three out of four against the Sky in the season series. In their previous matchup, the Sky came back from a big fourth-quarter deficit to win 88-87. On Friday, Clark was thinking about both the future and the past.

“This was a big one for us,” she said. “It almost counts as two when you’re in a playoff race with a loss and a win. So it was a big one. But also, we wanted to win the season series with them. That was kind of a focus point. And the last time we were here, we were 15 in the fourth quarter and kind of fumbled it away. So that was another opportunity for us to come in here and show what we’re about.”

Shortly after hitting two free throws to give her a new WNBA high in points, Clark left the game with nearly four minutes left because her team was ahead by so many. She had nothing left to prove. Not on this night.

Meanwhile, the Sky are struggling for answers.

“If you’re not motivated getting your ass whupped, then we got a problem,” Banham said. “Then don’t put on a uniform, because you better feel this in your chest.”

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photos of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark: Dylan Goodman / NBAE via Getty Images, Barry Gossage / NBAE via Getty Images)

Jon Greenberg is a columnist for The Athletic based in Chicago. He was also the founding editor of The Athletic. Before that, he was a columnist for ESPN and the executive editor of Team Marketing Report. Follow Jon on Twitter @jon_greenberg