Despite Stephen Curry’s Disapproval, Caitlin Clark’s Warriors-Like Strategy Fuels Fever’s WNBA Comeback

It has been a while since the Caitlin Clark-Stephen Curry comparisons have been happening and even Shaquille O’Neal doubled down on this narrative earlier this month. Now her recent game has only added more to this narrative. Her domination continued after the rookie dropped a career-high 35 points against the Dallas Wings. The Fever edged out with a 110-109 win as they look forward to their last game of the season.

Over the last three weeks, the Fever has been in the middle of a comeback, and for the most part, Clark’s performance has boosted this as they clinched a playoff berth. But at the heart of the Fever’s success was a strategy that mirrored the Warriors’ plays with Steph!

We’ve all seen how Curry constantly moves on the offensive end. So much so that players have admitted Curry is more dangerous off the ball. Well, the Fever may have taken notes, as the striking similarity is seen in almost every game. Running plays like the Stagger Twirl, Gut Chicago, and others have been utilized by Clark and her team.

Similarly, Flex is a staple in Curry and Clark’s strategy. It works well for them because of screen-the-screener principles, which are difficult to guard against if the defense is not in coordination about which screens to switch. In fact, Indiana Fever used this strategy in May while playing against the Los Angeles Sparks. It starts with Clark setting a flex screen for her teammate to cut along the baseline and so, she immediately receives a down screen to open on the perimeter to shoot.

GSW has been using Flex with Curry for years and interestingly, this started was also used by him during Team USA’s Olympic run.

Now, as similar as she might be to Steph, the NBA player doesn’t want the similarity to overshadow Clark’s hard work. No wonder, six months ago, Curry shared his thoughts about the same.

“But I think it almost robs her of like the rest of her game because she’s such a good floor, you know she has her overall, you know, floor game, she’s racking up, you know, close to triple-doubles every night and, her shooting ability is her superpower, but the rest of her game is as polished as that…” Curry told CBSMornings about Clark’s comparison to his game.

Another interesting stat comes from Clark’s shooting distance. The WNBA’s three-point line is just over 22 feet, whereas the three-point line in the NBA is 23.9 feet long. And quite surprisingly, Clark’s average three-point shot distance has been 28.09 feet in her rookie year! To put it into perspective, this average distance is more than Damian Lillard, Trae Young, and Steph Curry’s in their best seasons.

It is incredible how Clark has adjusted to the league at such a high level in just her rookie year. She is just getting started.

Is Caitlin Clark the WNBA version of Stephen Curry?

Often regarded as the current best shooter in the WNBA, Clark might as well be the equivalent of the Chef. She’s leading the league in three-pointers but hasn’t been as consistent. Of course, Clark’s shooting abilities are one-of-a-kind, but she has yet to find her consistency. Other than that, Clark is on her way to having a defining career. As the Fever advances to the playoffs, it will be interesting to see Clark make her postseason debut.

Clark and company will be taking on the Washington Mystics on Thursday, as they look forward to the playoffs. Not only that, Clark will also finish this season holding multiple WNBA and franchise records. However, there is another similarity between Clark and Curry.