CHICAGO — Aside from the WNBA Finals, this was the biggest game in league history.
There have been some great games over the years, and I don’t mean to downplay them, but the Indiana Fever’s first visit to the Chicago Sky since drafting Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Camila Cardoso offered a glimpse of the league’s future. And it was a great one.
The game was intense. First, the Fever missed a chance to decide the game with two seconds left, resulting in the Sky winning 88-87. Reese had his best performance as a pro, scoring 25 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Cardoso showed he can be a formidable force when he gets the timing right, disrupting the Fever’s attack multiple times and redirecting Clark’s pass to set up Reese’s layup to put the Sky in the lead.
And what about Clark? We already knew she was all about setting records, and she did it again Sunday. Her 13 assists and 17 points were Fever single-game records.
But the best part of the day was the atmosphere at the game. It was frenetic, with an energy the likes of which hadn’t been seen at a professional basketball game in this city since the Jordan era. Wintrust Arena was full to capacity, with lines forming around the building long before the doors opened. Celebrities were seated courtside. Fans were excited from the first whistle, and the cheers were truly deafening during the final two minutes.
The game was broadcast nationally on ESPN, which likely means even more blockbuster ratings in a year that has already seen plenty of blockbusters.
“It’s good for the game. It’s good for women’s basketball, but it’s good for women’s sports,” Reese said after the game. “Everybody’s watching right now. I think this is one of the most important times. We’re just going to continue to give it our all. I thought both teams put on a great show tonight. It was fun.”
Anyone who says otherwise is a contrarian, or a Neanderthal.
The WNBA has always had talent. Maybe not the depth it has today, but the talent was there nonetheless. There have been some fascinating Finals. Think last year’s Las Vegas Aces vs New York Liberty. The old Houston Comets vs Liberty. Diana Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury and… you know what?
What the league is missing is intense regular-season rivalries — not the personal animosity and catfights that some ignorant and malicious people try to stoke — but heated battles in which the biggest stars bring out the best in each other every time the teams meet.
opinion:I can root for Caitlin Clark without putting down other athletes.
Rivalries like these fuel sports and inspire interest from die-hard and casual fans alike. We get invested in these games no matter what’s at stake. The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers may both be at the bottom of the NFC North, but the history and closeness of the two teams means they’re still worth watching. Same goes for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The NBA owes much of what it is today to the rivalry between Magic and Bird that began in college and continued into their professional careers.
Here’s what’s on Sky and Fever right now for the WNBA.
Reese and Cardoso, and Clark and Aaliyah Boston, are cornerstones of their respective franchises. They already have a strong history together: Clark beat Boston and Cardoso in the Final Four two years ago before losing to Reese and LSU in the NCAA finals, then Clark beat Reese in the Elite Eight this year before losing to Cardoso and South Carolina in the finals.
All of these games were very fun and engaging.
Now they’re in the WNBA, split up into teams less than three hours apart, and given how entertaining their first three games have been, their matchups will likely remain must-watch TV for as long as they play. With all four players young, that could be the case for a while.
“I said it a few weeks ago, but I thought the girls played great (at varsity). Individually, all of the players have been great,” Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell said.
“I’ve been on teams that were slowly improving and then these guys came in and really catapulted us onto the map and it’s only going to go up from here,” said Mitchell, in his seventh season.
There’s a lot of other good news out there right now: A’ja Wilson is the best player on the planet and she and the Las Vegas Aces are on track to win their third consecutive WNBA title. The New York Liberty are putting together a superteam with Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. Alyssa Thomas is having another MVP-worthy season despite playing through both shoulder injuries.
But a rivalry like the Fever-Sky one is an introductory drug; anyone who gets caught up in it ends up wanting to see what the other teams in the league are like, and see if every game is just as much fun.
“It’s great to see that everybody is really paying attention to us. It’s really, really nice,” Sky coach Theresa Weatherspoon said. “Everybody is excited about women’s basketball. Not just about this game, but women’s basketball. That’s a big plus.”
There’s no doubt that Clark and Boston, and Reese and Cardoso, would be great for their respective teams, and the rivalry between them would be great for the WNBA as well.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
