The FIBA World Cup in Berlin next month will mark one of the most anticipated senior national team debuts for Team USA. Caitlin Clark will finally suit up for the national team on a big stage, making her debut alongside other young stars like Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese.
The team will be coached by Kara Lawson, who is also the coach of Duke’s women’s basketball team and a WNBA analyst for Amazon Prime. Clark and Aliyah Boston played a high-profile matchup against the New York Liberty on August 22 in front of Lawson, who called the game.
Lawson made one thing abundantly clear on the call: she will hold Clark accountable during her time with Team USA and call the superstar out for mistakes. Team USA is a team full of stars. Everyone has to be willing to do the little things, like defend, box out, rebound, and take care of the ball, and pay attention to detail—especially a young player like Clark who does not have the national team pedigree that veterans like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, or Chelsea Gray have.
Lawson called out Clark’s late-game mistakes
Clark finished the 109-102 loss to the Liberty with a good stat line. She recorded 21 points on 9-18 shooting, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and just 2 turnovers. But she also made some costly mistakes late, which Lawson took note of on the broadcast.
With about 57 seconds left in the fourth quarter and New York up three points, Leonie Fiebich was at the line. She missed the free throw, and Clark didn’t box her out, so the ball fell right into her hands for a new possession. Clark and the Fever were lucky that Sabrina Ionescu committed an offensive foul on the drive and it didn’t result in any points.
When Clark missed the box out, Lawson said, “Wow, then they just give up a possession right there by not boxing out the shooter. Unacceptable.”
About 20 seconds later, Clark tried to take Fiebich to the rim. She missed the shot and was visibly upset that the refs didn't call a foul on Fiebich. When she got to the other side of the court, she committed an ill-advised foul on Pauline Astier away from the basket, sending the rookie to the line for two easy points to extend the Liberty’s lead to five.
Lawson called her out once again when the broadcast showed a replay, saying, “That’s a poor decision by Indiana there because even though this is the missed shot here by Clark and she’s frustrated because she feels like she should get a call there—that’s okay to be frustrated. What you can’t do is foul this here. It’s still a one-possession game, right? So, play the game out, get the stop, and see if you can keep it at one possession. Now, you put your team in a disadvantage position late.”
Last but not least, Clark missed two free throws with 24 seconds left in the game and the Liberty up five points.
When Breanna Stewart was at the line with just over 17 seconds left to close out the game, Lawson said, “It’s playoff basketball, and I know this is a regular-season game, but all night it’s felt like that, and it’s just a couple of mistakes there by Clark late, right? The one emotional foul to put New York to the free-throw line, and then obviously misses the two free throws.”
“We can’t do anything about that now at this juncture in the game, but that’s a part of learning for every player, okay?” she added. “In the end of a game, the small details matter, and not allowing your emotions to get the better of you because you want to be able to put your team in as good a position as you can every single night to be able to win these games.”
Team USA has a small margin of error at the World Cup
The U.S. has dominated international competition for years. But other teams are catching up. France was just one basket away from beating a star-studded USA team for the gold medal at the Olympics in Paris, and their players just continue to get better. Belgium, the reigning EuroBasket champions, Spain, Italy, Australia, and China, among others, also can’t be underestimated.
Moreover, most of these teams have years of experience playing together and are holding training camps and playing friendlies right now, while Lawson shared in a media availability a few days ago that Team USA wouldn’t get together until everyone arrives in Germany.
Not winning this World Cup would be a very bad look for USA Basketball, so Lawson has to hold all of her players to the highest standards, no matter how big of a star they are in the W.
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