Even Indiana Fever general manager Lin Dunn was among those upset after player Kaitlyn Clark was shoved to the ground by Chicago Skys guard Chennedy Carter in the third quarter of Saturday’s game.
“There’s a difference between tough defense and unnecessary targeting!” Dunn, a longtime college and WNBA coach, was named interim general manager in 2022 and then permanent executive before last season. I wrote in X’s post“This has got to stop! The league needs to ‘clean up’ the rubbish!”
“This is not that kind of league!!”
With 15 seconds left in the third quarter, Carter took a jump shot and then tucked his shoulder into Clark’s left side before the Fever rookie received the inbounds pass.
Clark collapsed to the court and looked around at the officials as the foul was called, resulting in a free throw that gave the Fever the ball to take the final shot and win, 71-70, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
She told ESPN between quarters that it wasn’t a “basketball play,” and after the game she added to reporters that she didn’t want to retaliate or get penalized for anything, acknowledging that she “wasn’t expecting it.”
“We’re trying to avoid getting fined,” Fever coach Christy Said told reporters after the game. “We’re just going to keep sending these possessions and these plays out to the league and hopefully it will encourage them to take a closer look at some of the things that we’re seeing or think are happening.”
“I’m just so happy that Kaitlyn handled it the way she did. It’s tough to keep getting beaten down like she did and not get rewarded with free throws or fouls. She fights through it.”
Clark told reporters he would not answer any questions about Carter.
Clark finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field as the Fever look to record their first consecutive wins of the season when they face the Liberty on Sunday at Barclays Center.
