Caitlin Clark has been the brunt of hard fouls and side chatter since Day 1 of her WNBA career - but Jemele Hill says it's "just competition."
Clark became a phenom in college with a record-breaking career at Iowa when she became the NCAA's all-time leading scorer for both men and women.
In April of last year, she was the No. 1 overall pick and practically just as she stepped on a WNBA court, the conversation began about whether her popularity was due to her race. In fact, it was a claim that WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson had made, saying that Clark being White was a "huge thing" when it came to Clark's popularity.
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Then came some hard fouls, trash talk and allegations of racism at Indiana Fever games, and this season, we've already seen Clark separated from opponents twice in just three games.
One of those instances came on Thursday night against the Atlanta Dream, but Hill said on social media that it's just the nature of basketball.
Jason McInture saw the clip of Clark and Rhyne Howard going at it, to which he posted, "Here we go with wnba players going after Caitlin Clark again."
Hill then replied, "Y'all really need to stop this," adding, "We need to stop with this idea that Caitlin Clark is specifically attacked. Think she would find this extra insulting. A lot of this s--t is just competition. Y'all do not do this with men. Like, ever."
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With less than 30 seconds to go in the first quarter, Caitlin Clark and Rhyne Howard exchanged some words and had to be separated. Howard was playing full-court defense on Clark, who was dribbling up the court.
Refs whistled the play, and the two bumped into one another. Both appeared to extend an arm, and Clark began to walk away from the situation before Howard took a step forward. But one of Howard's teammates quickly stepped in and led Howard away.
"I'm not scared of you," Clark appeared to say, and she was backed by her teammates.
It was a slow night overall for Clark, who had just six points heading into the fourth quarter. She had 27 points two nights earlier against Atlanta.
Indiana trailed, 75-71, with just over two minutes to go, but it ended the game on a 10-1 run to earn an 82-76 win. Clark added five points in the fourth quarter to finish with 11.
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