Caitlin Clark heats up with best shooting performance of WNBA career: 'The basket looks bigger'

Editors Note: This story was published and updated prior to USA TODAY Sports' reporting that Caitlin Clark will not be playing for USA Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

WASHINGTON — Caitlin Clark dribbled hard, stopped on a dime, pulled up and drained her third triple of the third quarter. Following one 3-pointer, she backward swagger-hopped across halfcourt.

At times during the Indiana Fever’s 85-83 victory over the Washington Mystics on Friday, Clark looked very much like the player who captivated the nation in college by setting records and redefining fanhood. A smile creased her face. She flailed her arms out after referees made calls she disagreed with.

In other instances, though, she still looked like a rookie who leads the league in turnovers; Clark had eight more giveaways Friday, bringing her season ledger to 67.

But Clark tied her career best with 30 points (set May 28 against the Los Angeles Sparks), dished out six assists, grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals. She made 7 of 13 3-point attempts, which tied a WNBA rookie record, and made five straight shots from beyond the arc in the second half.

“I think it’s a process, more than anything,” Clark said after the game. “It felt good to shoot the ball well. I feel like even my misses were right there.”

The first second-half triple from Clark tied the game at 57 with 3:55 left in the third. The final one upped Indiana’s lead to 75-68 with less than eight minutes to go in the game. The Fever withstood a final-minute Mystics charge to earn their second win in three games.

Hours earlier, Clark talked of the “learning curve” she experienced over the first 11 games of her professional career. On Sunday, she scored a season-low three points against the New York Liberty. She followed it up – four precious days of rest in hand – with arguably the best game of her young WNBA career. During the layoff, Clark said the Fever actually had time to work on their set plays and practiced going against the ball-screen blitzes that have welcomed them this season.

Against the Mystics, Clark said, she was able to find enough room to create off those screens.

“As a shooter, once you see one or two go in, the basket looks bigger and bigger,” Clark said. “That’s kind of what I was feeling.”

Indiana head coach Christie Sides said giving Clark more action off screens was intentional and a way to decrease her workload.

“She started feeling it late, which is always a good thing,” Sides said.

On the defensive end, Clark wrestled the ball away for a steal under the Washington basket to fuel a transition bucket in the first half. She extended her right arm skyward enough for another steal on the next possession. By halftime, she had four assists and three steals.

Of course, playing against the league’s worst team – Washington is winless in 11 tries this season – didn’t hurt Clark’s chances of looking more comfortable on the pro hardwood.

Clark said pregame she feels her passing has been up to her standard – even as she and her Fever teammates are still finding their chemistry. Clark is also pleased with her rebounding numbers given her size.

The two-time NCAA Player of the Year entered Friday averaging 15.6 points, 6.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals — and a league-high 5.4 turnovers per game.

"Once the game slows down for me a little bit, the turnovers will go down,” Clark said.

CLARK: Her reaction to controversy after Chennedy Carter's cheap shot

Clark demonstrated her ball-handling skills with a nifty one-handed drive and scoop to the cup for two points in the first quarter. On the next Fever possession, she displayed her court vision in a give-and-go with second-year forward and 2023 No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston.

The blemishes on Clark’s game through the first six weeks of her pro journey were no less apparent Friday. In the first quarter, she had her pocket picked by fellow rookie Julie Vanloo in the backcourt. Vanloo drained a transition 3-pointer before Clark could recover defensively.

Clark responded with a step-back 3-pointer not far from the Mystics’ logo.

With the Fever off to a 3-9 start, how much experience matters in the WNBA is becoming abundantly clear to Clark.

“If you’re the No. 1 pick, you’re probably going to a team that didn’t have the greatest year the year before. … It can be tough at times," Clark said of the early-season losing. "One of the biggest positives over the course of the first 11 games is the energy about this group. It’s the same exact way as it was when we played our first game.”

Along with Boston (10 points, six rebounds, three assists), the Fever have a foundation for the future Sides believes in.

"We need to just keep laying, brick-by-brick, and stay the course," Sides said. "And that can be hard to do with the outside expectations. But Aliyah and Caitlin have wonderful futures ahead of them. It’s just going to get better."

Over the past week, Clark has been even more of a mainstay in the media than usual. The hard foul she took from the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter, which the league upgraded to a flagrant foul, has endured multiple news cycles of its own. The 22-year-old addressed the controversy twice before Friday’s game and said she didn’t think an apology from Carter, who was the victim of targeted harassment upon the Sky’s arrival in D.C. on Wednesday, was necessary.

Clark said she was well aware of the physical challenges that awaited her in the WNBA.

“Maybe some people didn’t know the circumstances,” she said.

Clark added: “You’re starting a new chapter and new part of your career, becoming a professional athlete. It’s not going to click overnight. That’s not what this is.”

Caitlin Clark ear injury 'pretty gross'

Clark was removed from the Fever's loss to the New York Liberty Sunday with ear pain. Asked what explanation she received, Clark didn't want to divulge the full reason.

“Honestly, I don’t really know," Clark said. "I don’t want to explain it, that would be pretty gross.”

Clark said she can’t hear too well currently out of one of her ears but is confident full hearing abilities will return in the near future.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caitlin Clark ties WNBA rookie record in Fever win vs. Mystics