Fans know and love Caitlin Clark for her ability to hit long threes at the perfect time to give her team momentum or even win a game. It’s peak entertainment and showmanship. Clark reminded everyone of how fun it is to watch her late-game heroics when she hit a long 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left in the game to secure a 78-76 win over the Washington Mystics.
Making big shots is what Clark does. It’s one of the many skills that make her such a good player. But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing to do or something she can just naturally pull off. A lot of work goes into the ability to hit big shots, and Stephanie White made sure to remind everyone of that in the postgame media availability.
“This is what Caitlin does,” White said. “She makes big shots, and she has big moments, and I think, when you have a player like her, it’s very easy for people to just take it for granted and think that everything that she does is always going to be easy and flawless, and she’s just going to step up, and she’s going to do it every time. It’s, number one, a lot of work that she puts in, and, number two, it’s been a rough go over the last 18 to 24 months for her.”
She also added, “I say this often, and I think sometimes we take great players and certainly generational talent for granted.”
Clark is still working her way back to her best self
As White said, it’s been a rough few months for Caitlin Clark. After an impressive rookie season, she missed all but 13 games last year due to an array of leg injuries—a challenging new experience for Clark, who had never missed that much time before. Then, she entered the 2026 season finally healthy and ready to build on her rookie success, only to make headlines for her defensive struggles when teams targeted her with quick, downhill guards like Veronica Burton and Carla Leite.
Clark has also struggled with her scoring efficiency, shooting just 38.3% from the field and 33.3% from three for the season. So, a game in which she made 43.8% of her shots and went 4-10 from behind the arc was big.
The Fever needed this win
The Fever came into this game with a 5-5 record and fresh off a disappointing loss to the New York Liberty. An even record isn’t bad, but it’s disappointing for a team that entered the season as one of the top title contenders.
So, getting a win, even though it included a blown 17-point lead, was important for the Fever.
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