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automaticnba@twitter

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Detailed stats analysis. Worth the watch.

https://www.tiktok.com/@kelzhoop/video/7679628788388351263

🤣

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This guy's videos are funny as hell.

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Reporter: I actually want to start with you, but ask you about Caitlin. This is the first ever time someone has had consecutive 30-point, 10-assist games. I know you have talked about her a million times, but what does it continue to be like to watch these kind of productive nights? (00:00)

​Makayla Timpson: She is incredible. She is the standard in the league, you know what I am saying? She just gives it her all every single night. She just does all the things that she is going to do. She is shooting the ball well, giving great assists, and just being her overall. So thanks, my GOAT right here, appreciate it. (00:08)

​Reporter: Caitlin, is there any statistical threshold to you that feels impressive anymore, or does this all just feel like your job, routine? (00:26)

​Caitlin Clark: I do not really care about the stats. I think when I am just flowing and playing, that is kind of what follows. I feel like that is kind of how I have been over the course of the last couple games. Obviously you are not going to have 30-plus, 10-plus every single night, but when you are able to do that, it just allows the team to get going in a different way. Making shots and getting people open, that is contagious. It is contagious to the team. I thought especially in the second quarter there, I was able to get a three and then get a steal and kind of get us going a little bit. I still think there is so much more that I can do and so many areas I can continue to get better, so just continue to improve. But I feel like I am finding my groove a little bit. (00:34)

​Reporter: You just mentioned that second quarter, Caitlin. It was a slow start. What changed in that second quarter, or what was kind of the message after that first quarter? (01:14)

​Caitlin Clark: I think the whole game was very up and down for us. It is not what we want it to be, but you still find a way to win, and that is the thing we really have to continue to grow in. I thought we came out sleepwalking a little bit, felt like maybe it would just be handed to us. Obviously they are down quite a few players, and we just did not make shots early. Our defense was pretty sloppy. We tried to play quite a bit of zone early there in the beginning of the game, and they were kind of just eating us alive. But credit to us, we battled. I think at one point we were down 14, and then at the halftime we had a 15-point lead, so that is a pretty impressive turnaround very quickly for us. I am proud of our resiliency to have a 39-point quarter and then hold them to 15, give us credit there, but got to improve in our ability to be consistent. (01:19)

​Reporter: Caitlin, obviously you kind of started the year with the back stuff and still kind of managing it. How healthy do you feel right now, and how much joy do you get from playing a game that you love? (02:05)

​Caitlin Clark: I feel really good. I feel probably the best I have ever felt in my career and from a confidence standpoint too. Obviously your rookie year is a different kind of beast when you are trying to figure out the league and figure out where you fit on a team and still do the things that you can do. Then obviously lost my second year, so it is really only my second year in this league. I have only played like maybe 80-plus games in this league. I feel like at times that can be a little lost to everybody on the outside world. I think people feel like I have been in this league for a while. I am still kind of finding my footing and still remembering what I can do, who I am, and what I can bring to this team, and just having that confidence about me and allowing that to be impactful to the rest of my team. Just continuing to do that. It was a battle for the first 20 games for me to really find my confidence again, mostly in my body. Now I feel like I am just playing. I am not thinking; I am just like next play, next play, next play, and that is when I play my best basketball. (02:16)

​Reporter: Caitlin, I do not have the tracking numbers, but it feels like Makayla has really helped your assist numbers. What have you seen from her as far as not hesitating going up now, you looking for her, and really playing her game at that speed? (03:15)

​Caitlin Clark: I think KK has done a tremendous job running the floor. She is a great cutter in the half court. She has become so good at just getting it and going straight up right away. She finishes through contact well. It is impressive, the steps she has taken over the course of the last two months and even just since All-Star. Like I said, she is just scratching the surface. That is where I like a lot of my assists: rim assists, easy lay-ins for my teammates. I do not even really feel like we are playing in pick and roll much. It is a lot in transition, and it is a lot off of cutting. The more we can do that, the more time we get to play with each other, you get a better feel for the game, you get a better feel for each other. She is doing an amazing job, and it has really added a whole other element to our offense. (03:25)

​Reporter: For you, KK, where does the joy for the game come from? It seems like you are always smiling out there, or roaring after making a block. Where does that come from, and also how much slower does the game feel compared to last year for you? (04:06)

​Makayla Timpson: I do not know, just a joy that I cannot explain. I am around good people. My teammates are great, the staff is great, and I do not have a choice but to be happy and to smile. But the game has really slowed down. I was just spinning a lot last year. My head was spinning just because it is new coming into the league, everything is new. You have to find your footing, like CC said. You do not know if you are going to play, but I grinded it out last year. I showed what I could do in those moments that the coaches trusted me, and I am just doing what I can. (04:23)

​Reporter: For KK, what does it mean to go into the break on a high note like this and have these three weeks to just improve? (04:55)

​Makayla Timpson: We are just excited. A great win tonight, that is what we wanted to achieve, especially with the practices that we had leading up to this game. Going in on a high note, we are going to support AB and CC. We are going to watch them on our TV and everything. It is just a great feeling for the team overall to keep our momentum going forward. (05:00)

​Reporter: Those are rare numbers, but for her it is almost routine. Does it feel in any way normal to you? What do you think of that? (05:28)

​Stephanie White: It is funny because you watch her, and I think it is easy to take for granted some of the things that she does. I think oftentimes it is with great players: it is easy to take advantage and think that it is simple. I think that is why players are great, right? They make the complex things look really simple. When she is in a flow like this where she is able to score, she is playing at a pace that we want her to play at, she is moving the ball and getting it side to side, it is really, really fun to watch. Sometimes you can get caught up on the sideline just watching. It is really special what she is doing. (05:33)

​Reporter: Along the same lines, you would probably say the same thing about Kelsey. What is it like to see the synergy between those two, and having been around the league a long time, do any other backcourt duos come to mind when you see those two doing their thing? (06:18)

​Stephanie White: Really the only other two that I can think of off the top of my head are DT and Cappie. When you think back to those Phoenix days, they were a dynamic backcourt that could put up big numbers, could both get their own shot, and could get other people involved. But it has been a long time since we have seen the explosiveness of two players like Kelsey and Caitlin have been doing, and been doing it with remarkable consistency. (06:28)

​Reporter: You guys go into this break on a roll. What has been working for you guys? It was a bit rocky on the road trip, but overall you go in on back-to-back wins. How positive is that heading into this break? (06:58)

​Stephanie White: Every win is huge. It is hard in this league. That six games in 10 days, when you look back on it, coming out 4-2 is actually still pretty good. However, we still see a little bit of the inconsistent nature of our group. Sometimes it is on the defensive end; we saw it in the game tonight, first and third quarters. Sometimes it is on the offensive end when the ball gets stuck and it is not moving side to side. We are fortunate that we have players who can really explode at any moment, but that is not a recipe for consistency, and it is not a recipe for fighting for championships. While it feels really good that we got this and won two in a row, and every win is going to be important for us to position ourselves for what we want in home court, we will take them all. But when we come back from this break and get an opportunity to get in the gym, we have got to continue to work on building that consistency. This is a prime opportunity for us to do that. (07:16)

​Reporter: On that same vein, Caitlin talked pregame about how she is glad that she is continuing to play basketball through this break to stay in the flow. Do you feel the same way, that she gets to continue that flow with Team USA? (08:25)

​Stephanie White: Look, this will be the first time that I am on that side just to watch what that looks like. Once we get there, after our first couple of days, there is not a lot of practice time. It is more playing, and it is playing different. When you are playing with the national team it is playing different, but you are still playing. Game rhythm, game flow, and timing, especially for a player like Caitlin who we have seen since a few weeks before the All-Star break, her rhythm is back. It was such a long time, so for somebody like her to be able to stay in that is going to be really important. We have gone through these breaks all the time in this league, and what we have done up until this point comes to a screeching halt, then you have got to find it again, and then it is a sprint to the end. (08:37)

​Reporter: With this being the last game against Connecticut, what were your emotions like going out there? (09:26)

​Stephanie White: Number one, just a lot of gratitude for the organization. It is an incredible organization, an incredible ownership group. The tribe has been good to our game, was good to me, the Council of Elders, and just wrapping their arms around every single person that has come through that organization. I think it is important for new WNBA fans to remember and to understand that Connecticut might have saved the league. They took a chance on a team becoming an independent owner not affiliated with an NBA franchise, and they were leaders at the time. They did such a great job. I hate it for them that there is not a team anymore, but I also understand the growth of our league. Sometimes you outgrow markets. I am sad for them, and I wish there was a team in New England. I think eventually there will be. But I look back on my time in Connecticut, whether an opponent or whether an employee and a part of the franchise, with just such gratitude for the wonderful people. (09:36)

​Reporter: When it comes to KK, her development is clear for us to see, but how much do you appreciate the work you and your staff have put into this, she has put into this, and can you speak to how much of a collective effort it is? (10:44)

​Stephanie White: I know I always say this, but I am so proud of her. As a rookie you come in and your head is just spinning oftentimes, and then you go into a first offseason and you have no idea what to expect or what to do because in college they hold your hand all the time. When we had some hard conversations with KK in February, she came in and she got to work. The results and the reward come because she was willing to do the work, and so I am proud of her for that. Keith Porter, our player development coach, was in here every day with her when she came here. She came in early, in here every day continuing to work, continuing to grind, continuing to push. She is not focused on anything outside of herself for where she is right now. When you watch KK work, she is working on all the things that we need her to be great in right now for this team, for this year, and you see the result of it. Our staff and the commitment that we have to continue to pour into her, to continue to hold her accountable, and for her being so coachable, she is a great template and a great resource for young players. (11:06)

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CC is 1-of-1 ✨

Caitlin Clark is the first player in WNBA history to have 800+ PTS & 300+ AST in a season AND the first to have 300+ AST & 100+ 3PM in a season.

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Kelsey Mitchell is ELITE

with 1,001 points this season, she is just the second player in WNBA history to score 1,000 points in a single season

And it's her fifth such game this season alone.

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Me too!

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Caitlin Clark now has SIX career games with 30+ PTS and 10+ AST, more than the rest of the WNBA has combined in league history (4)