Caitlin Clark DIDN’T HOLD BACK As Kara Lawson DISRESPECTS Her After Winning FIBA World Cup! 

Caitlin Clark DIDN’T HOLD BACK As Kara Lawson DISRESPECTS Her After Winning FIBA World Cup! 

But we dug oursel an 11point hole, but we we climbed out of it. We climbed out of it. Um, and I felt like we were never rattled by anything that they did. Um, I thought we, you know, you have to give France a lot of credit. They play with a lot of grit. They play with a lot of heart, a lot of passion.

 They’re aggressive. Um, but I think we showed what wearing a USA jersey is all about. It’s about dominating and that’s exactly what we did. >> Caitlyn, that three before the half, I felt like it changed the game. Did you feel like yourself making it? >> Yeah, it was nice to see it go through the net.

 The first one felt really good, too. So, I felt like I should have been a perfect uh three for three from the field, but we’ll take two for three. >> You were up next. >> No, sorry. Okay. Yeah, we’ll do this one and then one more there. >> Are you guys friends now? >> We always been friends. Don’t try to Don’t try to do that.

 Don’t try to do that. >> Caitlyn Clark is leaving Berlin with a gold medal around her neck, but somehow Team USA managed to turn what should have been one giant celebration into another conversation about how they treated their biggest star. >> Big win by Team USA. They brought the gold home. Shout out to team USA. Beautiful work, right? I am extremely happy for y’all.

 Can’t you tell? Can’t you tell? Great work. Great work by Team USA, man. But it’s hard to ignore what was what was displayed out there, man. It’s hard to ignore what y’all were trying to prove. Yo, come on, man. You bringing in the young guns with two minutes left in the quarter. N I had people telling me before the game, “Hey, Izzy, they were saving Caitlyn, Paige, and Angel.

 They were saving them for this game.” Shoot, it looked like they were saving Carla and Malonga over there on France side more than we were saving our young guns for this game. >> Because Clark barely touched the floor in the first half against France. Then when Cara Lawson finally gave her a real opportunity, Caitlyn started knocking down shots, creating offense, and showing exactly why people were questioning those minutes in the first place.

 She finished with 12 points and three assists in only 13 minutes. She was a plus 11 while she was on the floor. Kayn Clark in 13 minutes versus France, 12 points, three assists, a plus 11. She’s a gold medalist and a world champion. These are the leading scorers for team USA. She played less than half as many minutes as any of the other four players.

>> Team USA won the gold medal game 97 to79 and Caitlyn walked away a world champion. But if you watch that game, one question was impossible to ignore. Why did somebody producing like that have to fight for minutes in the first place? And Caitlyn did not need to grab a microphone and go on some 5-minute rant afterward.

 Her response was right there on the court. Give her a few minutes and she starts changing the game. That is what makes Carol Lawson’s handling of Caitlyn throughout this tournament so frustrating. >> Caitlyn Clark captures goal. Caitlyn Clark is such a big draw. She got me watching the damn women’s basketball fever world cup on NFL Sunday.

 My Commanders is ready to get busy, but I had to make time for the Clark show, baby. We capture gold without you. Asia Wilson, I was getting sabotaged the whole damn time out here. Cara Lawson, Stephanie White. This is crazy. Caitlyn Clark is about to go back to Indiana and tear the damn WNBA up. >> France came out ready to ruin Team USA’s afternoon. Gabby Williams was attacking.

France was hitting shots. And for a stretch in that first half, the United States looked uncomfortable. France even built a lead of roughly 10 points. This was not some meaningless exhibition where Lawson could casually experiment for four quarters. This was the gold medal game. Team USA was getting pushed.

The offense needed a spark. And one of the most dangerous offensive guards on the roster was spending most of the half watching from the bench. Caitlyn reportedly played only four minutes in that entire first half. Four. Think about that. You’ve got a player who can stretch a defense several feet beyond the three-point line.

 You’ve got somebody who can throw a pass from one side of the floor to the other before the defense even realizes what happened. And with France making Team USA uncomfortable, Cara Lawson barely used her. >> Oh my goodness. Caitlyn coming in in two minutes. She makes two mistakes and she’s out for the rest of the game.

 Is that what it that’s what we were doing? Paige was injured. I understand that. I got word there was something wrong with her leg. Right. Angel Reese coming in causing havoc. Just the the guards can’t even get by her. Losing the ball time and time again, making Carla turn it over. Right.

 Stealing the ball from Johannes. But for some reason, she can’t get playing time. She can’t get playing time either. What is going on? We put Caitlyn in at 10 seconds left on the last shot clock in the second quarter. What are we doing, fam? Like, I’m just trying to figure it out, man. At this moment coming into the half, we had at least three players who weren’t contributing anything anything on the floor.

 And for some reason, we still don’t find a way to put Caitlyn out there. We still don’t find a way to put Angel out there. That is where fans started getting irritated because people did not tune in to this World Cup simply to see Caitlyn Clark sitting in a chair. They wanted to see what she could do against the best players in the world.

 And every time Caitlyn did get an opportunity, she gave Lawson another reason to play her more. Team USA eventually fought back before halftime and cut the French advantage down to two. That was huge because considering how the first part of that game went, the Americans could easily have walked into the locker room trailing by double digits.

 Then the second half arrived and team USA finally started taking control. The defense tightened up. France stopped getting the same clean looks. Gabby Williams could not keep producing at the same pace. And the Americans started showing the depth everybody expected from this roster. But Caitlyn’s role was still one of the biggest talking points because she did not need 30 minutes to make herself noticeable. She needed 13.

 12 points in 13 minutes. Three assists plus 11. Those numbers jump off the screen when you look at how little time she actually played. >> I’m happy that Caitlyn Clark won. Um I’m pretty sure Asia Wilson is mad. She was hoping Team USA would lose and it would make her look like, “Oh, they can’t win without me.” Um that didn’t happen.

 They actually won by more without you than they did with you. Got to be real. I’m ready for Caitlyn Clark to get back. I’m ready for Caitlyn Clark to get back to Indiana. I do not appreciate the way she was treated while out here. I feel like she was taken advantage of. She was used for viewership and uh I just don’t appreciate what Carol Lawson did.

 I think Carol Lawson is a straight bone head. She’s no different than Stephanie White. And uh I I’m glad this thing is over. I’m glad this thing is over. I’m ready to get back to the real thing. I’m ready for her to go home and destroy these girls in the damn WNBA and send a message.

 Kalia Copper scored 15 points while playing around 30 minutes. Chelsea Gray had 12 points and five assists in 27 minutes. Caitlyn nearly matched Gray’s scoring output while playing less than half the minutes. And that is where Lawson’s decisions become difficult to understand. Nobody is saying every possession needs to run through Caitlyn Clark.

 Team USA has too much talent for that. Briana Stewart was tremendous and finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. There were veteran players all over this roster who deserved their opportunities. But when one player is giving you that kind of production in such a tiny window, keeping her buried on the bench starts raising eyebrows.

 Especially when that player is Caitlyn Clark, fans have seen this story before. They have seen Clark become the player everybody wants to watch, only for basketball decision makers to seemingly make everything more complicated than it needs to be. Give Caitlyn the ball. Let her run. Let the defense decide how they’re going to stop her.

 Instead, this tournament often felt like she had to prove herself all over again every time she stepped onto the floor, and she still walked away with gold. That might be the funniest part of this entire situation. But for some reason, man, I felt robbed. I felt robbed seeing that the Young Guns could win this game for Team USA. And honestly, it’s hard to say that the narrative wasn’t, “Hey, let’s let the vets win this so the young guns won’t have any glory.” Yo, I’m sorry, man.

 I got to say, sorry, not sorry, man. How do you not put the young guns in at all throughout this entire game? Then they go, they get to shining in the fourth quarter. You take them out of the game and allow the vets to finish it. Come on, man. We were seeing prime time USA and all of a sudden, you want to slow it up. You want to put the vets back in.

The game was over. You couldn’t allow the the young guns to just have the rest of the shine time. My goodness, man. >> If people expected Caitlyn to struggle on this stage, she didn’t. If they expected the international game to expose her, that didn’t happen either. When the gold medal was on the line, she produced.

 And she did it without being given anywhere close to the opportunity you would expect for somebody with her offensive ability. Caitlyn also buried important shots when Team USA needed them. That matters because there is always some new reason given for why Clark supposedly needs to wait her turn. She’s too young. There are veterans ahead of her.

 International basketball is different. You can go down the list. At some point, performance has to matter. And if you’re putting up 12 points in 13 minutes in a gold medal game, what exactly are we waiting for? Caitlyn answered the question every time Lawson finally called her number. That is why I say she didn’t hold back. I’m not talking about Caitlyn standing in front of reporters and attacking her coach.

 I’m talking about what happened when she got on the court. She played aggressively. She took her opportunities. She helped Team USA turn the game around. And then she collected the medal. Sometimes that says more than a press conference ever could. >> Caitlyn Clark was one of the top scorers. Okay. Um she had 12 points in just 13 minutes.

 All these other people you’re seeing played way more time than her. They played way way way way more minutes than Caitlyn Clark did. And um that’s just kind of what it is. Like she never really got a real chance while on this team, which is why I’m just ready for her to go anyway. You know what I mean? But I I want Caitlyn Clark to get back to Indiana.

 The worst part about it is Caitlin Clark has to go back to Indiana and she’s still got to deal with Stephanie White. That’s the worst part. I’m praying Stephanie White gets fired at the end of this season. You could see why Clark fans wanted this tournament over by the end. They wanted Caitlyn back in Indiana, back beside Kelsey Mitchell, back playing the style of basketball that has made her one of the biggest attractions in the sport.

Because watching somebody this talented get short stretches of playing time can become exhausting. And it was especially strange considering what Caitlyn Clark means to women’s basketball right now. People were changing their Sunday schedules to watch these games. You had basketball fans following a women’s international tournament during football season because Caitlyn Clark was wearing USA across her chest.

 That is the kind of poll she has. And then you turn on the actual game and spend huge stretches wondering when Lawson is going to put her back on the floor. How does that make sense? use the attention she generates, promote her presence, get the audience watching, and then barely let that audience see her play.

 Fans noticed and they are going to remember it. >> But one thing that did maybe frustrate me a little bit, and I’ve talked about it in previous episodes as well, like I was listening to the broadcast after the game and all they were talking about was just the veterans versus the young ends again and basically saying like, “Oh, the like the youngs are are going to be able to learn so much from these veterans.

” And like, see, they had to go with the veterans cuz they just know what they’re doing. And and again, you guys, I just don’t I don’t understand the reason. And I feel like so many times when we’re talking about this like veterans versus youngans thing for Team USA, it’s it’s almost like they’re referring to these younger players as being like teenagers, and they’re not.

There’s like maybe 5 years apart from some of these players. Again, Aaliyah Boston being in that group, too. Is she not like 25 or 26 years old? There’s there’s a few years apart between them and other players. And I get it. There is something that comes with having played on that stage before and understanding how to win.

 But I just I don’t like the constant dialogue and it seems to really mostly be from media members. I just don’t like the constant dialogue of like acting like the youngans weren’t ready because there is arguments to be made that some of these younger lineups actually performed better in totality when you’re looking at this entire World Cup tournament.

>> There was also plenty of pressure on Team USA entering this final. Imagine what the reaction would have been if France had finished the job. Imagine Caitlyn spending most of the game on the bench while the United States lost the World Cup. Carol Lawson would have been answering questions about those minutes for a long time.

 Instead, Team USA handled business in the second half and won comfortably 97 to 79. They got the gold. Lawson got the results she needed and Caitlyn Clark became a world champion. But winning does not automatically erase every decision that happened along the way. You can celebrate the medal and still look at how Caitlyn was used.

 Those two things can exist at the same time. And for Clark supporters, the final almost made their argument stronger because Caitlyn was productive despite the limited minutes. If she had played 25 or 30 minutes and struggled, Lawson could point to performance. That did not happen. Instead, Caitlyn scored nearly a point per minute.

 She assisted teammates. Team USA outscored France while she was on the court. Then she went right back to the bench. That is why people are asking what more she was supposed to do. Was she supposed to score 20 points in 13 minutes? Was she supposed to hit every shot she took? At some point, a player can only control the opportunity she receives.

 Caitlyn controlled hers. And now she heads back to Indiana with something nobody can take away from her. A senior Team USA gold medal that belongs on the resume forever. When people look back at Caitlyn Clark’s career years from now, this tournament is going to be another piece of the story. College records, packed arenas, WNBA attention exploding around her and now a gold medal on the international stage.

 What makes it even sweeter for Clark fans is that she got there without being handed anything. She had to make an impact in short bursts. She had to sit for long stretches. She had to watch other players get considerably more court time. And when Lawson finally put her in, Caitlyn made sure everybody watching knew she was there.

 Now comes the part I’ve been waiting for. Send her back to Indiana. Put her back with Kelsey Mitchell. Let Caitlyn get comfortable in an offense where she knows her teammates, knows her spots, and can play without wondering whether one missed shot is going to send her straight back to the bench. Because after everything that happened during this World Cup, I would not be surprised if Caitlyn returns to the WNBA playing with a little extra edge.

 and the rest of the league should probably be paying attention. A confident Caitlyn Clark was already dangerous. Caitlyn Clark returning with a gold medal and something to prove that could be a problem. And you know, her teammates in Indiana were watching. They saw the minutes. They saw the production. They saw the conversation happening around her.

 Now they get their point guard back. For all the controversy surrounding Cara Lawson and these rotations, nobody can change the final picture. Caitlyn Clark standing there as a champion. That is how this tournament ends. Not with Caitlyn being exposed. Not with Caitlyn looking like she didn’t belong. She leaves with gold after producing when her number was called.

Carol Lawson may have limited the minutes, but she could not limit what Caitlyn did with them. And now the conversation moves back to the WNBA where Clark will have another chance to answer everything on the basketball court. So, I want to know what you think. Did Carol Lawson disrespect Caitlyn Clark by giving her only 13 minutes in the gold medal game, especially after seeing how productive she was? or do you think Lawson’s rotation made sense because Team USA still won comfortably? Get down in the comments and tell me how many minutes

you believe Caitlyn should have played against France. And if you want more Caitlyn Clark and WNBA news, drama, and controversy, make sure you subscribe to the channel because we’ve got plenty more