"Caitlin Clark getting done like the Bad Boys Pistons did MJ" – WNBA fans note Indiana Fever guard's fragile physique amid rough start to season

A rather physical screen set by Breanna Stewart on the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark during their WNBA regular season matchup has led to a plethora of reactions from basketball fans. Clark, one of the most highly rated youngsters to join the WNBA, has become a household name and has a heavy burden of expectation.

Clark’s Fever faced the 2023 WNBA Finalists, the New York Liberty, for the second consecutive time. During the first quarter, Clark attempted to make a run back to her defensive end but ended up running straight into Breanna Stewart’s screen.

After the play, fans took the opportunity to compare the incident with how Michael Jordan used to be dealt with by the early 1990s and late 1980s Detroit Pistons. That team became known as the 'Bad Boys Pistons' for their physical and gritty style of play. Players such as Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Adrian Dantley and Joe Dumars made the Pistons infamously tough to play against.

Regardless, the clip, initially shared by Hater Report, compared the two eras:

A range of fans responded by finding humor in the situation.

One fan talked about how the screen itself was legal:

One fan claimed that they were effectively killing their own meal ticket, considering the amount of attention Caitlin Clark’s arrival in the NBA has resulted in:

"Lol these women are going to kill their meal ticket. The reason why people are getting into the WNBA is because of her."

"Why do I feel like they all hate her," another fan said.

Another claimed that things were certainly not easy for Caitlin Clark:

"They not making easy for shorty lol," one fan said.

Another claimed that her version of MJ’s ‘The Last Dance’ documentary would be epic:

"When Caitlin Clark drops her version of the “Last Dance” documentary it’s gonna feed families," the fan said.

Others thought that Clark running into the screen was actually on her teammates.

"Why aren't any of her teammates communicating and yelling "screen to your right coming" ??? The Indiana Fever are a terrible team. They don't even do the basics of on court communication 🤔," another fan said.

"That’s on her teammate to call the screen side," one fan said.

Hence, regardless of the reason, it is clear that Caitlin Clark has not had the best of starts to her WNBA career, as far as team results are concerned.

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Caitlin Clark has taken her scoring form to the WNBA

Clark’s move to the WNBA from the Iowa Hawkeyes, considering that she is already a household name, has led to an increased interest in the league itself. Something that has led to a range of changes and trends already, one of them being the increased attendance that has been registered in the WNBA campaign thus far.

While quite a few critics had aired doubt over whether Clark can continue scoring at the same volume that she showed in college in the WNBA, Clark has managed to quell those suspicions. In her three WNBA regular-season games so far, she has scored 51 points and managed 17 assists.

That includes her off-day against the Liberty in the previous matchup, in which she could only muster nine points (with six assists and seven rebounds). However, even that has only brought down her average thus far to 17 points per game.

As Clark’s teammates get used to her game, and she gets used to the increased physicality in the WNBA, there is only one way her career is set to go: upward.