Caitlin Clark slams refs for foul pushing her to brink of suspension; coach says she 'needs to move on'
Before breaking the WNBA's single-season assist record Friday night, Caitlin Clark was called for her sixth technical foul of the year.
It came in the opening minutes when she knocked Las Vegas guard Tiffany Hayes to the hardwood while defending. When Clark heard the whistle, she slammed her hands on one of the basket supports, which made it a technical foul.
With six technical fouls on the year, Clark is just one away from a suspension. Clark is tied for second in the league in technical fouls with Mercury guards Diana Taurasi and Kahleah Copper. Mercury guard Natasha Cloud leads the league with seven and has been suspended for a game already this season.
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The Fever have two games left, against the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics. If refs call a technical foul on Clark in either, she'll be assessed a one-game suspension. However, a technical won't cause her to miss a playoff game because the WNBA's technical foul counter resets for players once the postseason begins. She could end up having to serve that suspension in the first game next season if she is called for a technical in either of the last two games.
Clark criticized the referees for calling the foul on her record-breaking night in a postgame press conference. Clark admitted she has tried to appeal past technical fouls, but the league hasn't granted her any exceptions.
"They're never going to overturn that," Clark said. "It's just one of the rules, I guess, of the game. So, it's in the rule book. It is what it is. That's why I tried to get my last one taken away. They just don't take it away."
Clark also questioned the validity of previous technical fouls called against her by WNBA referees this year. She specifically pointed to her most recent technical against the Minnesota Lynx Sept. 6 and another where she was called for slapping the basket support.
"And it stinks because I feel like half of my technicals this year, I got one for that inadvertent contact to the face in the Minnesota game and then two for hitting the stanchion of the basket," Clark said. "One was a complete accident, and then the other two were just a little frustration with myself. So, I think I could have done a better job keeping my emotions in check, but at the same time, like, … really?"
Fever coach Christie Sides did not question the refs in her press conference. Sides held Clark accountable for the technicals.
"We've just got to make sure we let outside things have no control over affect us, especially early in the game," she said. "We've got to handle those things. Those guys aren't going to be perfect. We're not perfect, but I think we've lost some time with that frustration. So, that's just something we're talking about, we're working … just can't have that first quarter lapse like that.
"We can't let that affect us so much. The officials are the officials."
The technical foul was not the only officiating decision that went against Clark on a night she broke the WNBA's single-season record for assists with the 317th of her rookie season. She broke the record with her fifth assist of the night and finished the game with a total of 10, good for a double-double.
After the game, officials reduced the assist number to nine because Clark did not fulfill the full criteria of earning an assist.
"She just needed a reset. She's passionate. She's competitive. She just needs to move on to the next play," Sides said when asked about Clark's double-double being taken away on her big night.
Clark has not only been frustrated by the fouls called on her lately. She also took issue with a hit that knocked her to the floor in a recent game that was not called a foul in the Fever's 99-88 loss to Minnesota Sept. 6.
Clark got knocked to the floor by Minnesota's Napheesa Collier. Collier's arms appeared to hit Clark in the head and shoulder area when Clark tried to score in the paint.
The officials did not call a foul on Collier, and Clark lay on the floor with her arms to her sides.
After the game, Clark referred to multiple instances in which she was hit by opposing players but refs didn't blow the whistle.
"I thought I got fouled a couple times there in the second half on mid-range jump shots," Clark said. "It happens. Sometimes they get calls, sometimes they don't. It is what it is. I think I settled a little bit too much for mid-range jump shots, but I thought I got bumped a little bit, and I was honestly trying to shot-fake them to get them to foul me.
"I mean, I think I could have done a little bit better of a job controlling my own emotions."
Clark has had to manage her emotions quickly since coming to the WNBA. In her most recent game against the rival Chicago Sky, Diamond DeShields sent Clark flying across the floor for a foul that was later upgraded to a flagrant foul.
Clark took an infamous illegal hip check from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter June 1. Clark said the hit "wasn't a basketball play" after that game. Sky rookie Angel Reese struck Clark in the head with her arm while trying to block a pass during a game June 16.
Hits against Clark have become such an issue during the superstar's rookie year that former NBA player Joakim Noah suggested the Fever sign an "enforcer" to protect her from harm.
"If I was the owner of the Indiana Fever, I would get a real enforcer in there to protect her," Noah told Fox News Digital. "Sometimes I feel like she is getting hit because she is a very talented person. But, at the end of the day, we’re in the business of winning games. So, if I’m the owner [of the Indiana Fever], I’m getting a real enforcer in there."
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