Following a vicious foul on Caitlin Clark, Stephen A. Smith defends Angel Reese and charges WNBA officials of “looking for something” in order to penalize Chicago Sky rookie
Stephen A. Smith expressed no objection to Angel Reese receiving a flagrant from WNBA referees for her foul on Caitlin Clark on Sunday in Indianapolis. Nonetheless, the ESPN presenter believes that league officials are keeping a watch on the Chicago Sky player, especially with her fellow rookie around.
By defeating Reese’s Sky on Sunday, Clark’s Indiana Fever increased their record against Chicago to 2-0 for the year. Clark had many hard fouls during the game, which ruined the game. Two weeks prior, in Indiana’s victory over Chicago, Carter of the Sky had given him a hip check.
Reese, who was ultimately penalized a flagrant 1 for hitting Clark in the head while driving to the basket on Sunday, made the contact.
Smith stated on ESPN’s First Take on Monday, “I will say this: It was a basketball play.” Angel Reese is correct, that much is true. However, they would have done the exact same thing in the NBA if they had called for her to have it upgraded to a flagrant 1. She may be offended, but in this day and age, that’s what they do when they hit someone in the head. The call is accurate.
Although the referees in Indianapolis made the correct decision, Smith thinks they were already observing Reese because of her response to Carter’s hip check on Clark on June 1.
“But that’s basketball, so we don’t really care about that,” he remarked. That is the situation. It is not a major concern.
Numerous people in the media have attempted to make parallels between the competition between Reese and Clark and Larry Bird’s battle with Magic Johnson in the 1980s.
And although it’s true that both rivalry started in college before moving on to the professional ranks (Reese-Clark’s 2003 women’s NCAA title game and Magic-Bird’s 1979 men’s championship), Smith thinks the parallel goes a little too far.
For Smith, 6-foot-9 studs who prioritized passing above all else were comparable players—Bird of the Celtics and Johnson of the Lakers.
However, Clark is a budding distributor and sharpshooting guard, while Reese is a tough power forward. For Smith, the competition between Clark and Reese is diminished by that dynamic.
“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar isn’t competing against Larry Bird as much as Magic Johnson was against Larry Bird,” Smith remarked, suggesting that the rookie for the Fever should face the All-Star guard from the New York Liberty. ‘f Because of the similarities in their games, I’m ready to see the competition between [Sabrina] Ionescu and Caitlin Clark.
With his 23 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds, Clark ended up with a 3-1 record versus Reese since their collegiate days. Reese’s LSU Tigers did, however, defeat Clark’s Hawkeyes in the NCAA championship game of 2023.
Reese finished the game with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and five costly fouls in a 91-83 loss.
Some disagreed with the abuse Clark has endured on the floor, while others think the media has exaggerated the fouls.
A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces “gets hit in the head probably 10 times more than Caitlin,” as co-host Andraya Carter noted.
Carter said, “But that’s just a whole different story,” and added, “It’s a physical game.”
