Getty Image / Quinn Harris
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese met up for the third time in their WNBA career on Sunday, and the two rookies and rivals put on a show. For the first time since the 2023 National Championship Game, Angel Reese and her team beat Caitlin Clark.
While Clark had a great game, it was Angel Reese who totally stole the show with a massive performance of 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead her team to a huge comeback win. With Clark fading down the stretch, Skip Bayless questioned the “dog” in Caitlin Clark while proclaiming that he is now an Angel Reese Fan.
After Reese’s performance, which included a ten-point fourth quarter that helped the Sky come back from a twelve-point fourth quarter deficit and win, 88-87. After the game, she told the world that she has that dog in her.
“I’m a dog.”
– Angel Reese 🔥
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 23, 2024
Fox Sports personality Skip Bayless agreed. In a long-winding monologue on Undisputed this morning, he praised Angel Reese and questioned whether Caitlin Clark has that same “dog” in her.
As soon as that game ended, Angel Reese did a stand-up on-court interview with Holly Rowe and the first thing out of her mouth was, ‘I got that dog in me.’ And you cannot teach that. You know what, you can’t teach that. You either were born with it, or you weren’t. And you can’t sort of ,nurture it or coach it or teach it. It’s just what you’re made of. And, Angel, for the first time as a professional basketball player, definitely showed me what she was made of, because they were in big trouble in that game.
Then, he spoke about Caitlin Clark.
Conversely, I’m gonna hold women’s basketball to the same standards, I would hold men’s basketball. Kaitlyn, I don’t know if she has that dog at her. I know she’s got talent. I know. She’s got distance shooting talent. And I know she definitely has a gift for passing the basketball but I don’t know she has that dog in her because I start to wonder, I know it’s extremely early, but I’m just saying, I start to wonder when I see what I saw yesterday, because I saw a game in which in the third quarter, again on the road at Chicago, but it’s a smaller arena. It’s 10,000 seats. Caitlin’s team was up 15 with 1:31 left in the third quarter, then they were up 12 twice in the fourth quarter. The latest being at 6:38. Up 12 with 6:38 left. If you have that dog in you if you are her or she you get it home, man, even away from home you just figure out how to get that game home and down the stretch for the last 6:38 of that game I saw Angel Reese score 10 points with five boards, 10 and five over the last 6:38 of that game. And I saw Caitlin Clark do zilch. I saw nothing.
Skip isn’t wrong on what happened yesterday, despite Clark having 17 points and an Indiana Fever record of 13 assists, she did not have her best fourth quarter, and was pretty passive after hitting a three to put them 12 with 6:38 left.
But, I think Caitlin Clark proved that she has that dog inside of her in college when she and her Iowa teammates upset heavily favored and undefeated South Carolina in the 2023 Final Four. That being said, it’s very clear that Angel Reese has it in her, despite probably having less pure talent than Caitlin Clark.
It’s going to be so fun to watch this rivalry play out over the next decade-plus.