How the Phoenix Mercury lost to Caitlin Clark and made everyone win

Let the record show that it took a desert city, a warm crowd and two of the WNBA’s greatest players to finally start to melt away the resentment that envelops rookie sensation Caitlin Clark. 

The Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner, two highly accomplished players in women’s professional, college and Olympic basketball, set aside league pride and welcomed her to the WNBA. 

It was a moment of real decency. 

First Taurasi, then Griner, approached Clark just before tipoff on Sunday at Footprint Center and put an arm around her as they separately spoke words of encouragement. 

Everyone was smiles.

Taurasi is a WNBA legend. Yet she showed respect

After a hard-fought game, and after losing to the rookie, Taurasi cheerfully expressed her respect for Clark.

“She’s put the work in, and there’s been a lot of things thrown at her, and she keeps getting better every single game,” Taurasi said. “Her future is super bright.”

This was not just any player encouraging the newcomer. This was Mother Taurasi, the sun goddess and matron of women’s basketball, its oldest and one of its greatest players telling the league that Caitlin Clark belongs.

Taurasi, who turned 42 in June, is the only WNBA player to surpass 10,000 career points and last August became the oldest player to score more than 40 in a game.

Brittney Griner, who has known adversity by way of 293 days in Russian jails and prison, went out of her way to be kind to Clark, and whispered to her what most certainly looked like positive vibes.

Mercury lost, yet our fans applauded Clark

Sports media took note. “Diana Taurasi & Brittney Griner dap up Caitlin,” the website Bleacher Report reported. 

“Diana Taurasi gave Caitlin Clark her flowers after their first matchup in the WNBA,” Yahoo Sports reported.

“Great to see Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner greet Clark so warmly. A rising tide …,” USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan wrote. 

Basketball fans also understood what was happening.

“I have never seen Caitlin Clark this smiley in a game ever since she joined the #WNBA,” said one league faithful on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner ease her in. Kudos to both veterans.” 

“Not in a million years did I expect Diana Taurasi & BG to be the ones to provide Caitlin Clark with the warmest welcome to any away arena that she’s received thus far. Major credit to both of them & the Mercury organization,” said another fan and Indiana basketball devotee.

The Phoenix crowd — a 17,000 sellout — was a love fest for women’s basketball and its newest star. Not only did they cheer on Clark, but they also gave her a standing-O at game’s end as she left the court.

Taurasi wasn't hostile. She was right about sports

Clark, who did not feel well before Sunday’s game, still managed to play all but 33 seconds and post a near triple-double with 15 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds as the Fever beat the Mercury 88-82, the Associated Press reported.

In comments before the game, Clark spoke glowingly of Taurasi’s contribution to women’s basketball and the inspiration she is to young women.

Back when the pre-season hype was building around Clark, Diana Taurasi cautioned an ESPN interviewer that “Reality is coming” Clark’s way. 

“There’s levels to this thing. And that’s just life. We all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side.”

It was misinterpreted as hostility toward Clark, but Taurasi was right. The pro game in any sport is worlds apart from the college or amateur levels.

Clark struggled at first, but she's getting it

You can see it in football, in hockey, in soccer and in women’s basketball. The game is played much faster by its elite players, which means something big is missing — space. 

Defenses are much tighter in the pros. Offensive savants like Clark must create in space that has shrunk to nothing. It takes time to adapt.

Caitlin Clark may have walked into the WNBA as its biggest star, but she wasn’t going to instantly break down WNBA defenses the way she did college defenses.

Why Mercury owner:Is the WNBA's new villain

Taurasi spoke the truth and in so doing, defended her league and its players from the mindless hype.

Clark struggled for a time with WNBA speed and its narrow spacing, but she’s starting to show the gifts that won her national player of the year in both her junior and senior years at the University of Iowa.

She has gone through a WNBA hazing as players annoyed by the outsized publicity have roughed her up on the court.

This is a league of proud, tough women. You’re not going to coronate some rookie before she’s even taken a single shot.

Now wonder this happened in Phoenix

The treatment has been good for Clark. She has proved her toughness and composure throughout. She also has shown the proper respect to the WNBA and the women who pioneered it.

In Phoenix on Sunday, she enjoyed the respect of her fellow players and the warm embrace of Phoenix basketball fans.

“I’m just happy we won,” said Clark. “It was cool to play against (Taurasi), and obviously a really great game. 

“This crowd was absolutely incredible.”

Credit Phoenix basketball fans and Taurasi and Griner and the Phoenix Mercury. They did what we do best in our sunbaked metropolis.

We crack the ice.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.