Sandy Brondello felt the Indiana Fever was starting to figure it all out and made great strides in the two weeks since the two teams last met, but the Liberty also seemed to have figured out Caitlin Clark and the Fever offense.
In the first meeting, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton held Clark to just nine points and a franchise-record plus-32 rating. Two days later, Clark showed off his potential, scoring 10 in the first quarter and finishing with 22 points total. But on Sunday, when the Liberty and Fever met for the third time in less than three weeks, Clark was almost completely eliminated.
She finished with a career-low three points, but was hit in the ear by a screen in the fourth quarter and returned to the locker room briefly and then the bench for Liberty’s 104-68 victory. Lainey Hamilton and Kayla Thornton shared Clark’s guard duties, helping the Liberty get off to their best start (7-2) since their inaugural league season in 1997. The game also served as the Commissioner’s Cup opener.
“The Way of Bethonia [Clark]”I’m happy to have her on the team, but as a team we understand who the monster leader on that team is and he wants to make everything tough and difficult,” Sabrina Ionescu said.
Laney Hamilton also led the Liberty with 20 points, and Jonquel Jones had 18 points and 13 rebounds. The Liberty shot 57 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range, similar to the offense that reached the WNBA Finals last year.
Clark’s only points were a 3-pointer at the start of the second quarter, but that was it. She was 1 of 10 from the field and 1 of 7 from 3-point range. Late in the first half, Clark tried to drive for a layup but was blocked from behind by Thornton. Clark then missed a transition layup with Ionescu chasing her. When Lainey Hamilton got the ball, opposing teams like the Fever couldn’t start their offense until there were 12 seconds on the shot clock, Ionescu said.
“It’s like a chess match,” Renee Hamilton said of defending Clark, “but I have to do it all the time, so I’m always ready for that moment.”
Instead, Clark was the facilitator, dishing out five assists and watching Nalyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell cut the Fever’s 18-point first-half lead to 12 in the third quarter, though the gap quickly grew again. Liberty replaced Laney Hamilton with Mitchell in the second half.
“Hey, why not?” Brondello said. “That’s the luxury we have.”
The incident came 30 hours after the Fever’s game against the Chicago Sky, which also saw a controversial move by Chennedy Carter shoving Clark to the ground. The following day, the league changed the call from a regular foul to a flagrant foul. Carter refused to answer questions about Saturday’s hard foul, later posting on Instagram, “I’d rather you hate me.”
Fever manager Christy Said praised Clarke’s handling of the situation, calling for the referee to review and not trying to do anything else, but her side struggled to translate their one-goal victory into the kind of progress that would threaten the Liberties’ three-game winning streak.
Lainey Hamilton hit 7 of 9 shots for a season-high in points, a continuation of an offensive rise that dates back to the second half of the 2023 season, clarifying her role on the superteam (different from her previous two years with the organization) and making her one of the Liberty’s most consistent scorers in the playoffs. The team used her in isolations on Sunday, setting up a scenario where she had her back to the basket and Lainey Hamilton could zigzag around until she found enough space.
So in many ways, Sunday was deja vu for the Liberty. It was deja vu for the Fever back in Brooklyn, a reminder that Clark will need time to adjust. His autographs and No. 22 jerseys were scattered in the crowd and will follow him wherever he goes, but this time the Liberty unveiled their most effective Clark containment blueprint yet.
