Makayla Timpson and Caitlin Clark played pivotal roles in the Indiana Fever’s win over the Atlanta Dream on Sunday. One player the WNBA analyst Maurice Drake Jr. thought wasn’t as good was Kelsey Mitchell, even though she still ended the game with 20 points. So, when Fever coach Stephanie White said in her postgame press conference that Mitchell “found it in the second half,” before speaking about Clark, he couldn’t agree.
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Although White did eventually get to giving Clark her flowers, the Fever head coach giving Mitchell priority over Caitlin Clark and Timpson’s contribution didn’t feel right.
“That little Kelsey Mitchell spiel you tried to give. No, today it wasn’t about her… This is about Caitlin Clark putting the team on her back and Makayla Timpson coming on for the ride and outplaying Angel Reese,” Maurice said, reacting to coach White’s interview on his YouTube channel, Keep The Vision.
Like Maurice pointed out, both players dominated the game. Caitlin Clark, as per her usual high-level standard, delivered 26 points while also dishing out nine assists and pulling down three rebounds. Timpson, on the other hand, served as the ultimate X-factor, exploding for a career-high 20 points and seven rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, and then a block that came against Angel Reese.
In fact, Timpson was especially effective in overtime, securing six quick points in the first three minutes. Clark was also equally composed when the pressure was at its highest, sinking two clutch free throws with just moments left to push the lead back to a two-possession game.
White ultimately did praise Clark’s playmaking abilities.
“She’s allowing the game to flow, and she’s doing a great job of finding her teammates… I think the three that she got, I don’t think she expected to be that open, but I feel like that was a result of all the ways that she was getting everybody else involved throughout the course of the game.”
Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark has continued to draw praise from analysts like Maurice. Notably, after their last game against the Dallas Wings, popular sports columnist Skip Bayless made a very similar remark about Clark outplaying her rival Paige Bueckers and describing her performance as an MVP-caliber showing.
“Wings down 2 starters but Caitlin outplayed Paige. Each had 29, but Caitlin shot it better and had 10 assists – an MVP-caliber performance after turning her ankle late first half,” Bayless posted on X after the game.
Caitlin Clark had delivered 29 points in that game alongside three rebounds and 10 assists, numbers that Bayless clearly considered superior to Bueckers’ 29 points, six rebounds and six assists.
That continued praise for Clark only reinforces Maurice’s point about the Fever star being central to the team’s win. But then, while Stephanie White may have initially focused on Mitchell’s second-half improvement, she eventually acknowledged both Caitlin Clark and Timpson in the dressing room for the performances that helped Indiana secure the overtime victory.
They will hope to continue the momentum with another win against the Toronto Tempo in their next game on Tuesday.