So, Caitlin got flagrantly fouled today. Caitlin got a pretty bad foul, and it is not an ideal situation where she was trying to walk it off after Alana Smith came up on her. It was a landing zone foul. It was a landing zone foul, and it is what it is.
Caitlin went down, and it was just a normal call. I think the referees got it right. I don’t think Alana Smith tried to hurt her, but she did kind of go for it. Apparently she’s okay. This is a huge sign. This is actually hugely positive.
Caitlin Clark says postgame she landed hard on her kneecap and says, “I feel good.” She emphasized how well she thinks the refs did as well. I was like, “Yes, duh.” I think the referees are very clearly refereeing the game in a certain way. I don’t think anyone’s questioning that anymore.
The way the referees are reffing the game right now, they are refereeing the game like Caitlin is probably going to shoot 10 free throws a game. Paige is going to shoot 10 free throws a game. They are not allowing people to maul others anymore.
And by the way, Alyssa Thomas could be upset about it, but Caitlin said she landed on her kneecap hard and said she’s fine. She walks straight to the line without a limp after the review. She appears to be fine.
That’s one of the big things because she did look worried. She just looked pissed, to be honest. They might have just been losing the game, but I still don’t think there’s a point in playing her against the Nigerian national team.
Maybe you play her like 8 minutes because the fans are there to see her, but it’s a big thing. We’re good. Maybe you play her 8 minutes because today she played 16 minutes and scored 21 points.
Maybe you play her eight minutes on Saturday. This isn’t one of those games where it really matters. It does not matter at all, especially against a non-WNBA team. It’s a game that’s at 1:00 a.m. my time in France. I have to stay up until 3:00 a.m. to watch this game.
I think you either keep her out or effectively keep her out. I think you rest her. Maybe you don’t play her every single minute of the game. Maybe she gets rested.
I think she’ll be fine. But the one thing is that it is very clear the referees are calling the off-the-ball grabbing on both sides. The Wings did it more than the Fever. That’s going to genuinely change everything.
The way the referees are reffing this game means she doesn’t have to play through all the contact anymore. The way the referees are reffing the game is good. And the good thing is Caitlin Clark is going to get her landing zone fouls this year.
She’s going to get those calls, and that’s important because Caitlin only got one foul on a shot. The rest of the fouls were just from getting grabbed off the ball. That is the type of contact that nobody wants.
Nobody wants guards getting grabbed off the ball constantly. The referees have kind of stopped allowing it. They’re calling everything early because teams have to get used to the way the game’s going to be reffed now.
There’s going to be a lot of free throws early this season with the way the games are being reffed after 30 years of players being mauled.
But yeah, Caitlin not being hurt is huge. It is actually going to be a huge thing. I was genuinely worried during this game because she looked miserable on the sideline.
At the same time, the team scored one field goal in 11 minutes when Caitlin was off the floor. That one field goal was an open layup after a Grand Theft Alvarado steal from Raven Johnson gave KK an open fast break layup with nobody within 10 feet of her.
But yeah, it’s a new year. Hopefully new referees, and hopefully the old Caitlin Clark from 2024 is back where she could take all those hits and just bounce back.
She looked made of rubber as a rookie. She had so many of those hits in her first year, and nobody really thought much about it. But after last season, she was just hurt, and now we’re getting scared whenever she takes a hard fall.
That’s probably it. She basically looked made of rubber. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. I’m glad with the way the refs are calling games. I’m glad the game is being called this way. Glad that Caitlin Clark is okay. Glad that it was called a flagrant. Glad for all of that.
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