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Kelsey Mitchell wins WNBA award over Caitlin Clark after historic August
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- Kelsey Mitchell wins WNBA award over Caitlin Clark after historic August
Kelsey Mitchell wins WNBA award over Caitlin Clark after historic August originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Indiana Fever had two legitimate candidates for the WNBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Month award in August.
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The league could only pick one.
Kelsey Mitchell received the honor Wednesday after producing one of the best scoring months in WNBA history. The selection sparked an immediate debate among fans who believed Caitlin Clark's combination of scoring and playmaking made her the more deserving choice. Mitchell averaged 28.9 points, 3.1 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting an extraordinary 55.6 percent from the field during August.
The Fever announced Mitchell's award on Wednesday.
Clark was hardly a distant second.
The three-time All-Star averaged 24.4 points, 9.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals during the month. She also earned two Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards. Those numbers led some fans to describe the decision as a Clark snub. The better way to view it might be as proof that Indiana has built the WNBA's most intimidating backcourt.
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Kelsey Mitchell made WNBA history in August
Mitchell's case went beyond her scoring average. She extended her streak of consecutive 20-point games to 24, setting a new WNBA record. Mitchell also shot efficiently despite carrying an enormous scoring workload during a critical portion of Indiana's schedule.
The award was Mitchell's second consecutive Player of the Month honor after she also won it in July. Clark earned the award in June, meaning a Fever guard has now claimed the Eastern Conference honor in each of the past three months.
Clark's supporters can reasonably point toward her 9.4 assists per game and the attention she commands from opposing defenses. Her ability to create shots for Mitchell and the rest of Indiana's offense is a major reason the Fever have become so difficult to defend.
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That does not make Mitchell's award undeserved.
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Mitchell had to convert those opportunities, and few players in league history have scored at her current rate with comparable efficiency. She also demonstrated an ability to take over when defenses attempted to force the ball away from Clark.
The debate will likely continue because Clark is producing MVP-level numbers of her own. Yet Indiana does not need to choose between the two. Opposing teams do.
Defenses can blitz Clark and risk allowing Mitchell to attack an unsettled defense. They can stay attached to Mitchell and give Clark more freedom to create. Neither option is particularly appealing.
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The Player of the Month argument may have caused a stir. The fact that Indiana produced both sides of the argument should concern every potential playoff opponent.
