INDIANAPOLIS — When the clock ran out Sunday in the Indiana Fever's 110-109 win over Dallas , Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell had put up a combined 65 points, including 12 3-pointers, in their 65:51 minutes on the court. The finesse, the rhythm, the touch and the speed of the two guards in the backcourt made it seem almost as if they were scoring at will.
Clark and Mitchell, through the regular season which ends Thursday at Washington, have developed into a magical combination, a 1-2 punch for opponents that Fever coach Christie Sides calls her "dynamic duo" with "ice in their veins."
Mitchell, a veteran of the league who will turn 30 in November, went 12-of-21 and scored 30 in the Fever's final regular season home game Sunday, while Clark put up a career high 35 points, setting the WNBA rookie scoring record.
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The outcome left Sides beaming about the way the two complement one another and the chemistry that has become explosive.
"Man, they're special. I mean those two right there can hit such big shots," Sides said Sunday. "There's just ice in their veins and they've got players around them who are helping them get open, setting good screens and then moving the defense as well. I mean, Kelsey with her ability to get downhill, you have to guard her a certain way, then she can just pull up on a dime.
"They're just the dynamic duo. I mean that's who they are."
Mitchell makes her life easier on the court, Clark said after the Dallas game, and makes the Fever's opponents' lives a whole lot more complicated.
"It's hard to pick and choose when both of us are on it puts the defense in a really tough spot," Clark said. "We just really read and understand each other a lot better from where we were at the beginning of the season."
There were moments in the game where Clark and Mitchell looked at one another, unbeknownst to Dallas or the sold-out crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and both knew exactly what to do, Clark said.
"The amount of backdoor touch that she's got just because we make eye contact, and she knows to go backdoor. It's incredible," Clark said. "(We practiced) that play a million times, and it just made me laugh because she's so fast and she gets open every single time."
'Get what's ours'
The way Clark reads the court (she had eight assists in Sunday's game) and Mitchell's agility and ability to find the open spot, gave Dallas a difficult decision to make, Mitchell said.
"I think if Dallas thinks they're going to choose one, we both just have a chance to get what's ours," she said. "But I kind of look forward to it because it's kind of like, you can always be in rhythm with players like (Clark)."
When Mitchell was asked how she makes Clark better and vice versa, she immediately focused on their speed.
"Oh man, I just think that our pace alone is… A lot of people want to play fast (and) with a young PG, I get the best of both worlds," Mitchell said. "She's young and she likes to play fast so I can appreciate it."
That rapid, quick-fire pace sets the duo up to deliver a nearly unstoppable offense and plays that aren't often seen in the league, Mitchell said.
"The fact that we want to play up tempo and it's a shift from what you usually see from teams, I think we set ourselves apart," she said, "so it kind of makes us both stand out."
Mitchell hit her career high scoring record in 2019 with 38 points against Connecticut, nearly matching it earlier this month with 36 points in a game against Dallas. Soon, she'll be playing in her first WNBA playoffs series, in her seventh season with the Fever.
"I'm really happy for her and proud of her," Clark said. "She definitely deserves this moment."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow . Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com .
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'Ice in their veins:' Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell deliver unstoppable 1-2 punch
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