Angel Reese Changed Her Tune on the Caitlin Clark Foul After the Game

During Saturday's season-opening showdown between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, an incident between longtime rivals Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese was the story of the game. But while Reese was obviously frustrated at the moment, she changed her tune after the game.

During the third quarter of the game, Clark knocked Reese to the ground with a hard foul that was eventually upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul after a video review. After the play, Reese immediately got to her feet and began screaming at Clark in obvious frustration, seemingly believing the act was intentional and flagrant.

“You crazy as [expletive],” she could be seen shouting at Clark, adding, “What the [expletive] is wrong with you?”

After the game, Clark downplayed the foul, insisting that there was no malicious intent and that it was just a good basketball play given the situation.

“You know, either Angel gets a wide-open two points, or we send them to the free-throw line. Nothing malicious about it. It's just a good take foul. Every basketball player knows that,” Clark told ESPN's Holly Rowe after the game.

Clark disagreed with the decision from the referee to upgrade the foul to a Flagrant 1 foul, but she acknowledged that's up to his discretion.

"I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion," Clark said. "It's a take foul to put them at the free-throw line. I've watched a lot of basketball in my life, that's exactly what it was. I wasn't trying to do anything malicious. That's not the type of player I am.”

While Reese was visibly upset immediately following the incident and tried to confront Clark on the court, she seemed to change her mind by the time the game was over, calling it a simple "basketball play," though she agreed with the referee's decision.

"Basketball play,” Reese said after the game. “Refs got it right. Move on."

It's worth noting that Clark and Reese exchanged a friendly high-five later in the game, so the incident did not appear to lead to any lingering bad blood between the two rivals.