Are you following the WNBA postseason tournament? Here at the offices of the ShaqFu Radio blog, gotta admit, we’re pretty much locked in. As of this posting date, the Indiana Fever are playing the Connecticut Sun in the second game of their best-of-three first-round series, and we’re totally on board.
Yes, we admit it. After more than two decades of “the W,” it took incoming stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese to get us to finally tune in, and we’re glad we did. The games are exciting, competitive and a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, Reese’s season with the Chicago Sky ended early with a wrist injury. Clark and her Fever teammates are down 0-1 to the Sun, and a loss tonight ends their season.
No matter, plenty of people – not just ShaqFu Radio staffers – have “discovered” the WNBA, and that’s a good thing for the game and women’s sports in general. Even our man Shaq has talked about his appreciation of the lady’s game. Back when the college Final Four tournaments were running, O’Neal said at the time he was only watching the ladies’ rounds. Quite the endorsement.
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
Of course, regular readers of this blog know that Shaq has a great relationship with Angel Reese. She’s called him the uncle she never had, and he’s been there for her with life and sports advice and counsel. She’s signed on to be one of his athlete ambassadors for Reebok, where O’Neal has taken over the basketball apparel operation.
Still, O’Neal is not limiting his praise to Reese. He sees what other players and teams are doing, and of course that includes Caitlin Clark, who’s rewriting WNBA records with virtually every game she plays. After a rough and slow start, her Fever team is in the playoffs. They’re facing top-ranked Connecticut, so it’s quite a strong test for the new superstar.
On his latest episode of “The Big Podcast With Shaq,” O’Neal expressed his thoughts and feelings about Clark, her rookie season stats, and how players like her, and Reese have been such a big contribution to their teams and the WNBA as a whole.
Shaq said he’s had some front-row tickets for Fever games, and got to see Clark in person. Definitely impressed, he says she “plays the right way” and credits her ability to be used as a scorer and playmaker. O’Neal comes right out and says it, Clark is a great players, adding, “Caitlin plays the right way. I’ve seen her on TV and a lot of times we know on TV don’t really translate to the court all the time. I saw it. She makes the right play, every time. She makes her teammates better. She can shoot the ball. She’s a great player.”
For the regular season, Clark finished her rookie year averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. She led the league in average assists and led the rookie class in scoring. Those numbers were absolutely some of the big reasons the Fever is in the playoffs this year.
Indiana capped off the season as the No. 6 seed in the WNBA standings with a 20-20 record. Not exactly a great season record, but enough to get Indiana into its first postseason tournament since 2016. It’s also the first time the team has enjoyed a 20-win season since 2015.
As for Clark personally, she was named to the WNBA All-Star team this year, and continues to add to the record books. She did struggle a bit in the first playoff game against the Sun, but still put up 11 points, eight assists and four rebounds in a 93-69 in the lopsided loss. On to Game Two tonight. We’ll be there… how about you?