Team USA head coach Kara Lawson has been quite firm about having veterans start the show. Now, on the flip side of things, ex-ESPN host Linda Cohn has a blunt two-word ask for Lawson regarding not the start, but the end. This ask includes Caitlin Clark as the World Cup semifinal game against Spain approaches.
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While it seems clear that Clark and the new generation of players like Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will not start for Lawson, Cohn wants the Indiana Fever star to finish games if she is not starting.
“And after 28 assists in four games, come on… I want Caitlin Clark with the basketball in her hands. When Team USA finally needs somebody to close a game, will Kara Lawson put the ball in Caitlin Clark’s hands?” Cohn said on The Linda Cohn Show. “Because, against Spain, in a World Cup semifinal… Two words. She better.”
There is no denying the impact Caitlin Clark has had on Team USA in her first major international event, as she is averaging 8.5 points thus far with 2.8 rebounds per game. Most importantly, Clark has helped her side through her playmaking proficiency. So much so that while Clark will be focused on winning the gold medal, she might also leave the World Cup with some history of her own.
Clark is currently averaging seven assists per game, which is the most for Team USA in Women’s World Cup history. Dawn Staley averaged 5.8 assists in 1998, while Chelsea Gray averaged 5.3 assists at the last World Cup four years ago.
If Team USA does reach the final, Clark will need seven more assists in total across the last two games to break the South Carolina head coach’s record, confirming an average of 5.8+.
The highest recorded average assists per game was by Julie Allemand of Belgium, who averaged 8.2 assists per game back in 2018. To finish above that average, Clark will need a whopping 22 assists in the next two games.
The Fever star’s impact off the bench can also be highlighted with her insane plus/minus record. She had a plus/minus of 36 in the USA’s victory over Hungary and the highest plus/minus of any player throughout the World Cup.
Such aspects make one wonder why Clark is not in the Team USA starting lineup itself, but it is looking unlikely that Lawson will change her tactics, that too at the business end of the tournament.
“I think that our starting group’s done a pretty good job of getting us off to good starts, and rotationally from game to game we could change things, but I like where we are right now,” Lawson said.
Regardless, this is not the first time Cohn has been outspoken about Caitlin Clark during Team USA’s run, as she previously suggested that A’ja Wilson opted out of the World Cup because she did not want to involve herself in the Caitlin Clark hype.
While she received a lot of scrutiny for such comments, she was correct about Clark’s global popularity.
Considering Clark’s versatility at the point guard position, where she can both attack and create chances (as seen through her connection with Angel Reese), she would definitely be an asset late in the game if Team USA needs more than one quality coming from a player.
That is what Cohn also wants from the point guard position if Team USA is in a sticky situation late in the game, especially against a country like Spain, ranked sixth by FIBA.
Meanwhile, the 2nd- and 3rd-ranked teams (Germany and France, respectively) are battling it out for a spot in the final as Germany and France are closing in on the end of the first half, with France currently holding a slight edge.
“If we are sitting on Saturday, watching this game against Spain and it’s a 4-point game late in the fourth quarter, I’m not gonna be thinking and you shouldn’t be thinking about who started this game,” Cohn added. “Please think about who is finishing this game… I want Stewart out there, I want Collier out there. And I want the point guard who can create something when the defense takes away that first option.”
Team USA tips off against Spain on Saturday, and it will be interesting to see how Lawson utilizes Clark if the going gets tough in the fourth quarter.