Sabrina Ionescu defended her rival Caitlin Clark after the rookie endured the worst night of her WNBA career to date Sunday.
The former Iowa star scored just one basket during the Fever’s 68-104 loss to the Liberty, however Ionescu insisted it wasn’t a ‘big deal.’
‘The [Indiana Fever] came off a tough back-to-back, so it’s a little bit tough for them,’ the Oregon alum told reporters post-game when asked to comment on Clark’s performance.
‘But they’ll figure it out. It’s not that big of a deal to have a game like that,’ she added.
Ionescu, who was Kobe Bryant’s protégé, contributed 16 points, six assists and six rebounds as New York shot a season-best 57.6 percent at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
‘It’s not that big of a deal to have a game like that,’ Sabrina Ionescu said of the rookie
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever endured a miserable return to the court on Sunday night
Meanwhile, it was Indiana’s joint-heaviest defeat of the season and Clark’s lowest points total and field goal percentage across both WNBA and college basketball.
It marked the 22-year-old’s return to the court following Chennedy Carter’s brutal bodycheck over the weekend.
Clark was knocked to the ground by the Chicago Sky player after she seemingly yelled ‘you b***h’ at the Fever star unprovoked.
Clark watches from the bench as the Fever is heavily beaten by New York at Barclays Center
The No 1 draft pick scored just one basket and three points during the Fever’s 68-104 loss
The No 1 draft pick’s teammates later came under fire for not doing more to ‘protect’ the WNBA’s star player.
The Warriors’ Draymond Green wrote in the comments section of an ESPNW post on Instagram, ‘Indiana better go invest in an enforcer… FAST!’
Former NBA forward Matt Barnes also weighed in on the Fever’s need to protect Clark.
‘I mean, throughout the season, she’s been getting beat up,’ he wrote in an Instagram post.
‘Hard screens, elbows, knocked down,’ Barnes said. ‘It is what it is; she’s not the first, she won’t be the last. My issue and my question is, Where the f**k are her teammates at? Where y’all at? Where are the rest of the Indiana Fever at?’
The Iowa alum was shoved to the ground by Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter on Saturday
Carter refused to answer questions about Clark after the game, but spoke out on social media
Barnes, who played alongside greats like Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, was at times an enforcer himself and thinks Clark’s teammates need to stick up for her more.
‘I’ve seen a couple of girls smirk when she’s got knocked down, half-a** to pick her up. Like, y’all supposed to protect the asset, protect the star. And although this is a team, you always protect your star. I was someone who protected the stars,’ he asserted.
‘You f**k with Kobe, [Chris Paul], Blake [Griffin], the list goes on, it’s going to be a problem.’
Carter refused to answer questions about Clark after the Sky’s loss on Saturday, however she later threw some shade on social media, writing, ‘beside three point shooting what does [Clark] bring to the table man.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk