The Guru’s WNBA Report: Indiana and Clark Edge Atlanta While Miles Sets Rookie 3-Point Mark Propelling Minnesota Over Golden State

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

Just two games Thursday night in the Commissioner’s first week but each had plenty of excitement.

After a week of side drama for Indiana (5-4), beginning with cameras focused on a difference of opinion between superstar Caitlin Clark and coach Stephanie White during a timeout in Portland in a 100-84 blowout loss, followed by a team meeting Monday to get back on course, the Fever came back before a home crowd of 17,002 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to begin title defense of the Cup with an 83-71 victory over Atlanta (6-3).

Next up, the fabulous Olivia Miles rookie show continued in Minneapolis before a crowd of 9,105 at the Target Center where the collegiate star at Notre Dame and TCU out of Central New Jersey set a WNBA rookie record with eight 3-pointers leading the Lynx (8-2) to a narrow 87-84 triumph over two-year-old Golden State (6-4) for their sixth straight victory.

Fever Down Dream

Back in 1999 before Clark was born, a football movie Any Given Sunday had a scene in which Jamie Foxx as a third-team quarterback is thrust into a key game and vomits during a play.

At halftime Thursday, Clark managed to do likewise before shaking it off and finishing with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as the Fever snapped a two-game losing streak with their best defensive performance of the season.

“I haven’t puked that much in a really long time,” Clarke said afterwards. “But then I felt fine. I felt light. So, I was running around feeling good in the second half but feel OK. Obviously, I’m losing my voice a little bit. But I’ll be good.”

Indiana, tabbed preseason as a title contender with injury-riddled Clark recovered from just a limited 2025 summer, came into the game 13th in the 15-team league in defensive scoring at 89.0 but limited Atlanta to the Fever’s lowest output yield, also the Dream’s lowest offensively.

“I like our activity level,” White said. “Figuratively, of course, we hit first. We were the aggressor. We were active. We were anticipating. They felt us; they felt our energy. Our grit and our toughness was as good as it been all year long.”

Kelsey Mitchell, the former Ohio State great, led the Fever with 25 points and crossed the5,000-point plateau.

“Talent gets us there, but team camaraderie, and just being honest about where we are as a group keeps us there,” she said of Monday’s heart to heart internal conversations.

Indiana upset Atlanta in the first round last season despite missing Clark and a slew of others and nearly clipped eventual champion Las Vegas in the semifinals.

It was the first season meeting between the collegiate rivals Clark of Iowa and LSU’s Angel Reese, traded before opening day from Chicago, and booed all night by the partisan crowd, according to game reports.

Aliyah Boston added 19 points with seven rebounds for the winners while Rhyne Howard at eight and Allisha Gray were held to their lowest scoring totals this season.

“Tough one for us,” said Atlanta coach Karl Smesko, hired last year from a long successful run at Florida Gulf Coast. “We got off to a slow start, offensively. I give Indiana a lot of credit, they were locked in.

“Whenever we made a run, they came back with a big basket. Give them credit.”

Miles Powers Lynx Over Valkyries

Soon after Clark’s victory, her former rookie record was taken over by Minnesota’s Miles, the second overall selection in April’s draft behind UConn’s Azzi Fudd to Dallas.

Miles, the league’s rookie of the month, was 8-for-11 from distance, and 9-for-16 overall for 28 points, her best to date, with seven assists.

Not unbeaten with two losses, but still the Lynx are right where they were this time last season despite still missing MVP runnerup Napheesa Collier from offseason surgery on both ankles.

She had been listed as potentially back sometime this month.

Miles, meanwhile, talked about her start as a pro.

“It’s just a testament to my mindset and my confidence. It’s a lot of inner work to go and believe in yourself and constantly remind yourself that you deserve to be where you’re at. The support that I have here to go out there and hoop and be myself, it just allows me to be comfortable.”

Clark in 2024 as the overall No. 1 on the way to rookie of the year and New York’s Crystal Robinson in 1999 had the previous rookie long distance mark at seven.

Mile’s special 3-point performance ties Kayla McBride for the Lynx overall record while the rookie mark was six, set four times, most recently by retired Hall of Famer Maya Moore in 2011.

The record came after Miles had been 2-of-18 her previous nine games from deep, causing Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve to quip, “… was not on our bingo card but we’ll take it.”

“The last few games, we feel like she’s got opportunities to shoot the ball,” Reeve said. “She’s a good shooter… And so, we had been trending toward her being confident to take shots. Once she saw a couple go down, it felt like she was playing Baylor again, I guess.”

The Bears are a TCU rival in the Big 12 in the NCAA.

In her first ten games, Miles has scored or assisted on 317 points, one behind Dallas’ overall No. 1 Paige Bueckers out of UConn last season.

Clark’s rookie total was 312 in 10 games.

Courtney Williams added 17 points with seven rebounds, McBride had 14 with eight boards, and Natasha Howard had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Golden State, which is one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league, had14, one more than the hosts, paced by reserve Janelle Salaun with 5-of-8 and 17 overall points while Cecilia Zanadalasini had four deep makes and 18 points, and reserve Tiffany Hayes scored 15 points but Gabby Williams was held to 2-for-10 from the field and five points.

“It came down to a couple of possessions in terms of execution,” said Golden State coach Natalie Nikase of the narrow loss, despite Miles’ big night for the opposition. “Boxing out the last couple, you need those rebounds.

“Giving up 14 offensive rebounds, not part of our game plan. Attention to detail, so give credit to them.”

Looking Ahead

On Friday, ION and League Pass carry all three games; Connecticut at Chicago at 7:30 p.m., and Dallas at Los Angeles and Phoenix at Portland, both at 10 p.m.

League-leading scorer Kelsey Plum, out the last three games with a right ankle sprain, is expected back for Los Angeles, coach Lynne Roberts saying at practice Thursday, “looks great. Hopefully, she can play.

On Saturday, ABC will air two West games in the afternoon: Seattle at Minnesota at 1 p.m. and Golden State at Las Vegas at 3 p.m. while in the East at night League Pass will air Washington at Atlanta at 6 p.m. followed by CBS and Paramount+ carrying Indiana at New York at 8 p.m.

Sunday League Pass will air Chicago at Toronto at 3 p.m., while NBA TV at 7 will air Portland at Los Angeles.

For those new to paying attention to the WNBA, the league standings regarding playoff and seeds are combined without regard to the best teams in the East and West.

UPSHOT AND WNBA AWARDS

The first monthly player award of the new four-team UPSHOT League announced Friday by commissioner and co-founder Donna Orender, the second WNBA president, goes to first-place Jacksonville’s Ariel Hearn, a 2016 Memphis graduate with 17.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists for games in May.

In leading the Waves (5-2) to the top, she shot 43.4% from the field and 35.0% from deep along with 90.0% from the line.

The league’s second and last game this week on Saturday has the Charlotte Crown (1-6) hosting the Savannah Steel (4-3), tied with the Greensboro Groove (4-3), at 4 p.m. on the league’s YouTube channel

In the WNBA, expansion Toronto’s Marina Mabrey (21.0 ppg., 3.5 rpg., and 5.5 apg.) and Dallas’ Jessica Shepard (22.0, 20.0,10.0) were the respective East and West players of the week.

Atlanta’s Allisha Gray (20.4, 4.1, 1.3) and Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson (24.8. 8.1, 2.3) were the respective players of the month in the East and West, while expansion Portland’s Alex Sarma was named coach of the month.

Minnesota’s Miles’ rookie numbers in May were 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists.