A snappy Angel Reese has admitted the Caitlin Clark shove that sparked a brief altercation between the pair was just a ‘basketball play’ after playing down their bust-up on Saturday.
Reese and Clark didn’t need long to reignite their bitter rivalry on the WNBA’s opening weekend, with the former reacting furiously to being knocked to the ground by her nemesis in the third quarter of the Chicago Sky’s defeat to the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin slapped the Sky forward across the arm after she grabbed an offensive rebound, sending her tumbling to the floor and picking up a flagrant foul in the process.
The shove sparked an angry reaction from Angel, who leapt back to her feet and made a beeline for the Fever star before her teammates quickly intervened.
After the game, Reese issued a blunt eight-word verdict on the bust-up, insisting the referees got it right and urging people to ‘move on.’
When asked for her thoughts on Clark’s foul, she simply said: ‘Basketball play, refs got it right, move on.’
Angel Reese gave a blunt eight-word verdict on her spat with Caitlin Clark on Saturday
As Angel jumped up and confronted Caitlin, the latter’s Fever teammate Aliyah Boston jumped in between the two players to deescalate the situation.
Following a replay review, the referees upgraded Clark’s foul to a flagrant one and called double technical fouls on Boston and Reese. It was the former’s third personal foul.
During an in-game interview with ESPN, Clark said there was ‘nothing malicious’ about the foul and called it a basketball play.
‘It’s just a good take foul,’ she said. ‘You know, either Angel gets a wide open two points, or we send them to the free-throw line.
‘Nothing malicious about it. It’s just a good take foul. Every basketball player knows that.’
The reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year also doubled down on that claim in her postgame press conference, urging reporters to ‘not make it anything it’s not.’
‘I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am,’ Clark insisted.
‘I went for the ball, and that’s clear as day in the replay. You watch it… it shouldn’t have been upgraded [to a flagrant foul]. But that’s up the ref’s discretion.’
Clark slapped Reese across the arm and sent her tumbling to the floor in their WNBA opener
The Chicago Sky forward reacted furiously and had to be held back from her bitter rival
Clark stressed after the game that it was just a ‘basketball play’ and by no means ‘malicious’
Reese and Clark have brought their rivalry from the college ranks with them into the big leagues, having famously clashed on the court during LSU and Iowa’s NCAA Championship game in 2023.
In a memorable moment, Reese performed Clark’s trademark ‘You Can’t See Me’ celebration right in her face as she helped LSU claim victory on the night.
Last season they also went head-to-head for the coveted WNBA Rookie of the Year award, with the Indiana sensation ultimately coming out on top.
After Clark’s foul on Saturday, Reese went on to miss the first of her two throws, which drew huge cheers from the Fever crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, before making the second as Chicago added a layup on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 56-45.
However, Indiana closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take a crucial 65-45 lead, and Chicago never really threatened to stage a comeback in the fourth.
It was Clark who therefore had the last laugh over her arch-nemesis as the Fever cruised past the Sky 93-58 to open their account in style.
