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Matthew Byrne | Indiana Fever Beat Writer, ClutchPoints

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The Truth Network Radio
June 24, 2024 5:46 am

Matthew Byrne | Indiana Fever Beat Writer, ClutchPoints

Amy Lawrence Show / Amy Lawrence

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June 24, 2024 5:46 am

ClutchPoints Indiana Fever Beat Writer Matthew Byrne joins the show to recap another edition of Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese.

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Price and coverage match limited by state law. We are pleased to welcome from Indiana Clutch Points beat reporter Matthew Byrne who went to the game in Chicago. Matthew, the crowd seemed to bring a lot of noise, a lot of electricity. It was a sold out affair and it was back and forth. So what was the atmosphere like in Chi Town?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there was a little bit of disappointment that it wasn't going to be in the United Center in Chicago, which could probably fit about double the fans. Regardless, atmosphere was great. It was an incredible game.

Back and forth, as you said, Angel Reese took over in the fourth. So it was great to see the home crowd be able to have that to cheer for. It was awesome. After the game, Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell was saying that the WNBA took a took a big big step and that women's basketball took a big step as well. And I definitely agree. I read and it was also on the broadcast that the average ticket price to get into the arena was $358, which as far as the WNBA can tell is a record going back about 10 years.

What's your reaction to that? I think it's crazy and I think it speaks to wherever Caitlin Clark goes. I haven't been to all the road games. I've been to say probably five and every single time there's one section of the lower bowl in these stadiums, usually the corner closest to the tunnel where families, younger fans as well will be wearing Caitlin Clark jerseys.

They'll have all the memorabilia. It's why every single time I'm on Twitter and have a video that I just I title it as the autograph tour because that's really what it is. It's so fun. It's so fun to go to cover a game, get there two and a half hours before two hours before and fans are there as well. I think it's I think it's tremendous.

I would love to get your perspective on the way the team handles it. We know that Caitlin Clark is adept at this. She's been in the spotlight for two plus years now. She has a great demeanor when it comes to all the interviews.

She never seems to get impatient, annoyed, frustrated. She just kind of takes it all in stride, but the rest of the fever her coach Christy sides as well as the other players. This is relatively new. The white hot spotlight.

So how have you seen them navigate the change? Yeah, I mean, I think that there's no jealousy when players are speaking to reporters just because of the spotlight. I think that they're all handling it well. Caitlin herself is being very media trained is definitely an example. But I also think that it's a good blend where if she's around her veteran teammates, maybe around her coach, you know, it kind of makes her more comfortable. Maybe it takes the stress away from maybe her veteran teammates that maybe she's dealing with most of the questions. So I whenever there's a press conference, it's usually a pretty good balance of all those factors. We're excited to catch up with Indiana Fever beat reporter Matthew Byrne fresh off the game in Chicago, covering it for clutch points.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. All right, let's talk about that fourth quarter because the Fever had a 15 point lead. It looks like they're about to track down their fifth consecutive win.

And as you point out, Angel Reese has a phenomenal fourth. Where did the Fever leave points out there in the fourth quarter? Caitlin was saying after the game was just the ball just got stuck.

And there just wasn't as much flow. Caitlin only took two shots in the last seven minutes and earlier in the game. She hit some deep threes, some big threes. Kelsey Mitchell hit three threes in the third quarter. You know, she wasn't shooting as much. So it's just the ball got stuck.

You saw it with a fewer number of shots. After the end of the third quarter, it really did seem like the door was kind of fully closing. Kind of seemed like there was that vibe in the arena as well.

Hats off to Chicago. I mean, Fever and the Sky were, I think, a half game back. So now that, you know, the Sky had something to play for.

Home crowd as well. The Sky got to the free throw line a lot. The Fever struggled with points in the paint, defending the paint, allowing too many free throws.

And Angel Reese just took over. That was her fourth quarter, solely. Her signature moment so far in her WNBA career. You mentioned the end of the game and not seeing a lot of shooting from Caitlin Clark. What about those final ten seconds? I was a little surprised that there wasn't a play drawn up for her. Yeah, the explanation I think that was given after the game is that Caitlin rebounded and was in transition with the Fever down by one point of that ten seconds to go.

She opted to give it away, pass it away, and the Fever shot didn't go in. And then with seven seconds out of a timeout, they had a play. And from what Christy Sides, head coach, was saying after the game, that play was meant to go to Aliyah Boston.

I asked her why, just because it seemed like the play was drawn up for Caitlin on the wing. And then she got double teamed. It seemed like it was the second option to have to give it up to Aliyah Boston, who was open in the high post. And Aliyah had just hit a three to bring it back to a one point game.

Maybe that was sort of the logic there. She just hit a shot, she could do it again. Caitlin will draw so much attention that Aliyah can hit a shot, but she missed it. Not enough time for a catch and shoot for the Fever with 0.2 seconds left. They tried, but not enough time. There are a lot of positives obviously over the last couple weeks. This wasn't a fifth consecutive win, but the Fever have been stringing some wins together. They're very competitive. What has Christy Sides said about their uptick and how they've been able to find a rhythm and a groove? Christy's been saying, and the pattern has been that four starters, including Caitlin, Aliyah, Kelsey, and Alyssa Smith, they're all getting into double figures, they're all shooting more efficiently, they're just playing well together. Aliyah Boston has really turned a corner. She was in a little bit of a slump after being the Rookie of the Year.

Her connection grew with Caitlin, that was just a big thing to success. And all four did well again today. There was a lot of growth with that four game win streak, but I think equally as much as this game will sting, it's going to be really important for them. They haven't had many heartbreaking losses. They've had to survive in this win streak, no win. Three of the four wins haven't been conquerable single digits. And this is the first one that they let slip away. I guess in an optimistic sense, maybe it'll kick in extra gear for them. Maybe it'll motivate them to do better because it was inexcusable, it was embarrassing.

But maybe it's not the end of the world. Growth through winning and also growth through losing as long as it doesn't become a bad pattern. That adversity definitely can make a locker room stronger. Matthew Byrne covers the fever. He's with us from Indiana after hours with Amy Lawrence. A franchise record 13 assists for Caitlin Clark. Man, it was really impressive to watch her pass and over and over now we're seeing that connection with Aliyah Boston. Here's an interesting question that I thought of as I was watching the game, Matt. How much balance does Kristi Sides want between Caitlin shooting and Caitlin passing?

Yeah, I think that's definitely the biggest question to ask. Kristi after the game was saying that it was a little vague. She was saying that she's not going to say Clark shouldn't be aggressive. So, I think as the season progresses, us reporters are going to learn a little bit more about that balance between them, the conversations that they're having. But I think as Caitlin has progressed in two games before this one, there was a few off-target passes in the second half, maybe a few questionable shot selections. And I think that this game, the opposite was that her court vision was phenomenal, but there was just a little bit of a lack of shooting towards the end. So, I think that these last two games are probably just the perfect case example of a rookie trying to learn the ropes, trying to smooth out performances, trying to stay consistent through all four quarters. So, yeah, I think that's been how it's been going for the season. Caitlin still has to, or at least there's room for growth for her to be more consistent throughout all four quarters. So, I think that's probably the next learning curve. One thing's for sure, Boston and Clark have definitely developed that connection.

How have you seen it grow? I think just Aliyah being more confident in herself. I think that Caitlin doesn't necessarily need any more added confidence. And not like Aliyah needs a lot either, but Aliyah is just making plays that I don't think that she was able to make or consistently make in the beginning of the season.

We've seen her so many times cut to the basket, be completely left alone on an island. That is not something that I think that she was doing before. She's having a little bit more power, might in the paint. I asked Caitlin two games ago, kind of what I was saying to the last question, where it's such a good first half and there's a few off-target passes.

How do you go about smoothing out your performance? Caitlin admitted that maybe she rushed one pass to Aliyah Boston. She was trying to remember the other ones that she could have gotten better at. And Aliyah interrupted the press conference to say, with all the reporters in the room and with Caitlin right there, that it's okay. Don't worry. Caitlin's a good enough passer. If she thinks she can get it to me, she'll do it.

And if I don't catch it, I don't catch it. We're good. We're fine. So I think that that was a really wholesome moment between them that definitely speaks to their connection. There's multiple factors. There's that wholesome moment and there's Aliyah playing with more confidence. There's Caitlin getting more games under her belt. Matthew, how much does the practice factor into this, considering they had very little time for that with that mad blitz of games to start the season? Yeah, that was the biggest thing for that four-game win streak. That was just my main takeaway.

I sat down to write an article and just the endings. They're bonding. They're laughing. They're winning because of it. And they had no practice time in the beginning and that's so, so tough. Because, you know, the fever franchise that gets such a high pick, but there's a reason why they're in this position is not qualifying for the playoffs since 2016. I mean, they have all these high picks, but, you know, sometimes it can be hard.

Veteran sees a premium in this league. So, yeah, they got run through the gauntlet. They finally started to get some practice time. They went to zubilation in the Indianapolis Zoo, I believe, and then they also went to the U.S. Olympic swimming trials as well.

There's a video of Caitlin, like, feeling the temperature of the pool water. So, they were laughing. And then after that, you know, they won the next day.

They won the next two days or whatever after zubilation in the swim trials. And it's just Aliyah, Kelsey, and Caitlin all just so loose, so fun, you know, just so happy. You mentioned the autograph tour, Matthew. What's it been like to cover home games with a completely different energy this season? Oh, it's been awesome.

You know, the fever just recently tied the 2002 Mystics as, I'm trying to remember it perfectly, it's the first eight consecutive home games with 15,000 plus attendance, and most of these last games have been sellouts. So, yeah, no, it's not just kind of a phenomenon where it's like, okay, you know, fans are just going to come see, you know, Caitlin one time. There's so many people that are lining up to see her, and the energy is great.

Indiana is obviously known as a huge basketball state. So, yeah, the energy has been incredible. And there'll be times where, you know, Caitlin will play into it, she'll hit a three, you know, she'll signal to the crowd, everybody will love it.

So, yeah, it's definitely been very fun to be inside Gamers Fieldhouse. What's it like for you as a journalist and this, gosh, this phenomenon drops into the lap of the fever, and you get the assignment of covering Caitlin Clark's rookie season? I think it's kind of funny, the parallels, not nearly as good at basketball.

But, you know, we're both the same age, we're both 22, you know, we both were just seniors in college. I covered the Indiana women's basketball team, so I actually, you know, covered her in college for a few games. So, I think it's kind of cool, that kind of parallels, I guess I'm in my rookie year covering a professional sports team as well. But, no, it's crazy, just the draw that she has, you know, especially on social media, too. You know, if there's something that, you know, she says that's particularly interesting, you know, that can get picked up really quickly and just widespread. There's just, there's so many Caitlin Clark fans, and it's crazy because, you know, as I was saying that we're both 22, it's like sometimes I'll be interviewing her and it's like, you know, she'll almost conduct herself like she's way older, you know, very media trained, very mature, very professional. Right. And it's just kind of crazy to think about.

There not being an age gap yet, kind of feeling like there is one, just because, you know, sometimes the weight of the world can be on our shoulders. And yet, at times, she handles it better than some of the media who are covering her. Present company excluded, Matthew. I did not mean you. You know, social media can kind of go off, go crazy, be buzzing so much. And sometimes us reporters, you know, don't necessarily talk to her every day. So something can blow up, be very popular, and people can make, you know, sort of like side branches off that and form their own opinions. And it's like, you know, maybe sometimes Caitlin can't really have a chance to speak on it again until, you know, 36 hours later about it.

It's pretty crazy what's happening around her. But still, pretty amazing to be part of this and will always be on your resume. So you can find Matthew on Twitter at matthewburn, B-Y-R-N-E 1. Matthewburn1 covering the fever for Clutch Points, having a chance to watch this train as it burrows down the track. Matthew, thank you so much for your time and your insight. Good to have you on the show. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. This is really fun, Amy. Thank you so much.

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