{"id":676748,"date":"2026-05-17T13:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676748\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:08:13","slug":"statisticians-strangely-dont-count-multiple-clear-cut-caitlin-clark-assists-vs-mystics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676748\/","title":{"rendered":"Statisticians strangely don’t count multiple clear-cut Caitlin Clark assists vs Mystics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Something strange happened in the Friday night matchup between the Indiana Fever<\/a> and the Washington Mystics.<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not talking about the Fever only scoring nine points in the second quarter, or Aliyah Boston being a non-factor in her second straight game. I\u2019m talking about the statisticians refusing to award two assists to Caitlin Clark<\/a>, which stole a historic achievement from her.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever celebrates after scoring a basket to send the game into overtime against the Washington Mystics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 15, 2026. (Andy Lyons\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The two plays in question:<\/p>\n

With less than six minutes to go in the Fever\u2019s abysmal second quarter, Clark drove the lane, drawing two defenders, and then darted a wraparound pass to Monique Billings, who cashed a catch-and-shoot corner 3 to cut the Mystics’ lead to 2. Some have claimed that the pass was slightly tipped, but even if it was, an assist can still count if the pass was slightly tipped, depending on whether the official scorer believes the original pass directly led to the basket, which it did.The second questionable omission was with 30 seconds left in regulation, a crucial play in the Fever\u2019s ferocious comeback to send the game to overtime. Clark raced up the floor with the Fever down six, dribbling to the right side of the arc where she, once again, drew a double team, leading to a shovel pass to Kelsey Mitchell, who nailed a three. The pass undoubtedly led to the basket, yet no assist was awarded.]<\/p>\n

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON\u2019T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!<\/a><\/p>\n

The interesting aspect in all of this is that assist decisions are generally handled by official scorers and statisticians using league statistical guidelines and judgment rather than a written gameplay rule in the public rulebook that speaks specifically to slightly deflected passes or hand-offs and shovel passes.<\/p>\n

If the pass to the intended target leads to a bucket, without drastically changing direction, or causing the player to make an extra effort to reach the pass, it should be an assist. It\u2019s definitely something the league should take<\/a> a look at and correct, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

If this is indeed corrected by the league, Clark would have only the sixth 30-point, 10-assist game in WNBA<\/a> history. Plus, Clark would become the first player to ever do it twice. It would have been a historic milestone on top of being the fastest player to reach 1,000+ points, 250+ assists and 250+ rebounds, doing it in just 54 games, breaking Diana Tarausi\u2019s record of 62 games.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark celebrates a three-pointer against the Washington Mystics on Friday. (\u00a9 Grace Smith\/IndyStar \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

I consider this a huge story from a betting standpoint as well. What about the folks who put money down on Caitlin Clark getting a double-double or over 9.5 assists? Whether you like it or not, betting is a massive part of the sports experience and many are putting bets down on the WNBA\u2019s most exciting player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about personal milestones for Clark, or integrity in the way the stats are recorded, it affects fans pocketbooks. WNBA, do the right thing here. Acknowledge and award Clark her well-earned assists.<\/p>\n

Jon is a writer and content creator for OutKick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something strange happened in the Friday night matchup between the Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics. No, I\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,6554,10731,326173,300794,85,10730,5941],"class_list":["post-676748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-indiana-fever","tag-outkick-analysis","tag-outkick-sports","tag-sports","tag-washington-mystics","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}