Caitlin Clark Beat The Brakes Off Atlanta Dream In Front Of Sold Out Crowd

It took a little while for her to get going, but the WNBA is starting to officially become the Caitlin Clark Show.

On Friday night, Clark’s Indiana Fever defeated the Atlanta Dream 91-79 in front of a sold out State Farm Arena. They filled over 17,500 seats for this game in a stadium that usually hosts the Atlanta Hawks. Clark impressed the massive crowd, scoring 16 points and seven assists.

Clark’s seven assists were good for another WNBA record in her young career. She became the third fastest player since Sue Bird to reach 100 assists. She’s the fastest player in WNBA history to score 250 points and 100 assists.

Despite a few games of struggles in her rookie season, it sure as hell seems like Clark’s game is translating in a way that the haters said that it wouldn’t. And it’s translating in front of sold out, record-breaking crowds.

The early learning curve coupled with so much attention on WNBA drama related to Clark including hard fouls, Olympic snubs, and jealous opponents has not slowed her down. Instead, it seemingly only fueled her fire.

While there’s a plethora of haters and naysayers online, these sold out crowds are undeniable. Other WNBA rookies like Angel Reese have been impressive, and they deserve a little bit of credit for the success of this season, too. But nobody’s generating this sort of buzz.

The WNBA has never seen anything like this. Instead of playing in their typical gym at College Park, the Dream literally had to move this game to an NBA facility to keep up with the demand. As you would expect, it was a franchise attendance record that had nothing to do with the home team.

The economic impact on cities that welcome Clark is beginning to be felt, too. More people are flooding these cities and downtown areas to watch her play.

After playing just 17 WNBA games, Clark is No. 2 in All-Star fan voting. Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson is the deserved leader with nearly 18,000 votes. But Clark’s popularity can’t be denied, as she’s already accumulated over 216,000 votes, more than stars like Brianna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu. 

The Fever are still just 7-10, three games behind .500. It appears at least statistically that Clark has already turned the corner in her rookie season. But there’s still work to be done. And you can be confident that Clark will somehow figure out a way to turn her team into a winner.