LOS ANGELES — Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are finally in the win column.
After opening the season on a five-game losing streak, the Fever knocked off the Los Angeles Sparks 78-73 in a packed Crypto.com Arena on Friday night.
The sellout, record crowd of 19,103 came to see Clark make 3-pointers and score at will, but it wasn’t a typical outing for the top pick in the WNBA draft. Clark went into the fourth quarter with only five points and she’d missed her first seven 3-point attempts.
But Clark still provided a Hollywood ending.
She drilled her first 3-pointer from way downtown with two minutes left in regulation. Then, with the Fever up by two points in the final minute, she knocked down another deep 3-pointer — showing why she is the current star attraction of basketball.
The way the crowd reacted, you’d have thought the Lakers just won another NBA title. Clark just shrugged after the shot that all but wrapped up the victory.
“I was due,” Clark said. “Throughout the game I was like ‘it was time for them to go in.'”
Clark finished with 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting but she was dishing the ball out with a game-high eight assists and 10 rebounds, marking her first double-double in the WNBA.
While Clark didn’t have the best overall shooting night, she certainly got help. Kelsey Mitchell had 18 points, Aliyah Boston had her best game of the season with 17 points and Temi Fagbenle, who is playing in her first WNBA season since 2019, had a career-high 17 points off the bench.
For a majority of the first half, it looked like Los Angeles would run away with a win and Indiana would remain winless. The Sparks had an 11-point lead going into halftime.
But the Fever got more aggressive defensively and it changed the tide. The visiting team started the third quarter on an 11-0 run to tie it and limited Los Angeles to just 11 points in the frame. In the second half, Indiana outscored Los Angeles 44-28.
It was fitting Clark came up big in the clutch given she was playing in the longtime home of one of her idols who was known for doing the same: Kobe Bryant. She wore one of her favorite shoes in the Kobe 5 Bruce Lee colorway, and before the game, she talked about how much of an honor it was to play in a building “with so much history.” She said she’d never forget her first game here.
It will be tough to forget her late heroics.
“That’s just the mentality you have to have as a competitor,” Clark said. “It’s just like, you want those moments, you have to embrace those moments when your team needs a big shot.”
Celebrities show up for Caitlin Clark in LA
The stars were out to see Clark and company at Crypto.com Arena, including two who celebrated with her after the win. Iowa alumnus Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis sat courtside with their children. After Clark nailed her first 3-pointer, she gave a high-five to Kutcher, and after the game, she met with the whole family. One of their children had tears coming down their face after meeting Clark.
“He was encouraging me the whole game, so it was fun to have him courtside,” Clark said of Kutcher.
Actor and well-known Clark fan Jason Sudeikis was also in attendance, along with Klay Thompson, Cheryl Miller, DeMar DeRozan, Tobin Heath and Christen Press.