Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark received her fifth technical foul of the season during her record-breaking night on Sunday, and she is just two more shy of receiving a one-game suspension.
However, the WNBA star says she is thankful for it.
Clark broke the WNBA rookie assists record in Sunday’s win over the Seattle Storm, when she put up 23 points and nine assists. However, things got a bit testy for the No. 1 overall pick in the third quarter when she missed a 3-pointer with the Fever leading by four with just a little over seven minutes remaining.
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"I got a technical for basically being mad at myself because I missed the three, and I went and hit the backboard, and he told me it was disrespectful to the game of basketball," Clark said after the game.
"It reminded me of the technical that I got in college where I said ‘Damn it’ where it’s like a personal frustration. [It] had nothing to do with my team. It had nothing to do with referring. It had nothing to do with the other team. It was just because I’m a competitor and I felt like I should’ve been making more shots."
Clark, the favorite for WNBA Rookie of the Year, appeared to throw her hands up in frustration after being given the technical. However, after the game, Clark said she wanted to thank the ref for motivating her performance.
CAITLIN CLARK BREAKS WNBA ROOKIE ASSISTS RECORD IN FEVER'S 92-75 WIN OVER STORM
"But I think he fired me up to continue to play a lot harder, I thought we got a lot better after he did that. So, I want to thank him for that."
"That’s the fire and passion that just gets me going," she continued. "It’s just finding a way to channel that and use that, and I thought I did a really good job of that at the end of the third and fourth quarter."
Fever head coach Christie Sides did not appear to take issue with Clark’s outburst. She did call for more consistency with the officiating, adding that Clark has done it in the past without being given a technical.
"That’s the way she gets her frustrations out, I have absolutely no problem with that. It didn’t affect anybody, it wasn’t towards anything. We just have to be consistent on that call. That hadn’t been a technical on her before."
The Fever returned from the WNBA break winning two straight with 12 games left in the regular season. At 13-15, they have already matched their total wins from the 2023 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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