INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton couldn’t contain himself. The Indiana Pacers star, who was sitting courtside Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, wasn’t just watching basketball. He was watching art.

And Caitlin Clark was painting a masterpiece.

With each pinpoint pass from the Indiana Fever’s No. 1 pick, Haliburton moved closer to the edge of his seat until he finally jumped out of it. Haliburton knows what a great pass looks like. He led the NBA in assists last year. But this full-court dart from Clark to Kelsey Mitchell for a fast-break layup made him react like he’d just seen a magic trick.

First, his hands went up in the air. Then, they went on his head in disbelief.

“Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge,” Haliburton shared via X.

What Ty is referring to … Elite vision from #IndianaFever’s Caitlin Clark. https://t.co/HT4sFXO00Y pic.twitter.com/dinxT2XACJ

— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) August 17, 2024

Clark’s dime to Mitchell in the second quarter was one of many highlights in the Fever’s 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. The resounding win, against a team with a trio of newly crowned Olympic gold medalists, secured Indiana’s first season sweep against any opponent since 2020 and the franchise’s first season sweep against the Mercury since 2015.

Back then, Clark was 13 and the Fever was in the WNBA Finals. The team has had only one playoff appearance since, and after a month-long break for the Olympics, it’s fighting for another. Friday was simply the first of 14 remaining regular-season bouts, and Clark came out swinging.

The 22-year-old scored or assisted on 17 points in the first quarter, one more point than the Mercury scored as a team. Clark was doing whatever she wanted: nailing deep 3s, converting and-1 layups and dishing out passes as if she has a sixth sense.

“I think just getting to know my teammates and playing with them, it’s just a comfortability,” Clark said. “It was gonna take me a little bit of time to get used to. It was hard to adjust, and once I kind of found my groove so far, I think we’ve just been getting better and better.”

Clark finished with 29 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. She’s reached the 25-point, 10-assist threshold twice in her last five games. All other rookies in WNBA history combined have done it only once, per Stat Mamba.

Mitchell has been one of the main beneficiaries of Clark’s growing command of Indiana’s offense. The fellow All-Star guard scored a season-high 28 points against the Mercury, including 10 points off passes from Clark. Eight of those points were in the fourth quarter and helped stave off a furious Phoenix comeback.

“Basketball is a language,” Mitchell said. “You gotta get on the same page with your counterparts. I think me and C-Squared like to play a certain way and that’s fast and up-tempo, so I’m gonna always align (with her) based on how she’s playing and how the game is going.”

Fever coach Christie Sides said she challenged Clark over the break to “empower her teammates” even more when the season resumed. That message resonated with Clark, evidenced by how she trusted her counterparts when Phoenix stormed back from a 28-point second-quarter deficit and briefly took a 62-61 lead late in the third quarter.

Instead of getting frustrated, which Clark visibly displayed earlier in the season, she remained poised and kept the ball moving. Lexie Hull nailed a 3-pointer to put the Fever back in front, and at the end of the period, when Clark could’ve taken a 3-pointer that everyone in the crowd was hoping she’d shoot, she passed it to Katie Lou Samuelson.

The veteran forward had yet to attempt a shot, but she nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Those were her only points of the night.

“She was wide open,” Clark said through a smile. “She was almost like too open.”

There were moments Friday, particularly in the third quarter, when it looked like the Fever were going to fold. It had been a theme at the beginning of the season: building a big lead only to get bullied into a brutal loss. The Mercury tried that approach and became the aggressor behind All-Star Kahleah Copper, who finished with a game-high 32 points, and clawed its way back into the game.

But Clark didn’t panic and neither did her teammates. After Mitchell took exception to how Phoenix’s Natasha Cloud was defending her in the third quarter, Mitchell shoved Cloud in the chest and was whistled for an offensive foul. The two came face-to-face and were given technical fouls.

“Sometimes having passion for the game, some moments can spike your team up to go and play well,” Mitchell said. “I had a moment myself. … But I think it kind of helped us. The grit and the game in those third quarters and when teams make runs is how you win a game in the WNBA. You just gotta be gritty. You gotta be able to get trenchy a little bit.”

However, there’s a big difference between being “trenchy” and being in the trenches. The latter is mainly where the Fever have resided ever since Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings retired after the 2016 season. This year, with Clark holding the paintbrush, could be a different picture.

“I always say that C-Squared is one of those players where her IQ is gonna take us a lot of places,” Mitchell said. “So, you really gotta fill in where you fit in as far as knowing how to read and adjust off her. And once you make that adjustment, I think obviously it’s really good basketball.”

 (Photo: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

The journey is just as important as the destination in the eyes of Miguel Rojas, which is why the veteran shortstop isn’t fretting over the fact that the Dodgers are in a dogfight for the National League West for the first time since 2021, the only year they’ve failed to win the division in the last 11 years.

The Dodgers cruised to division titles the past two seasons, winning the NL West by 22 games in 2022 and 16 games in 2023, and what good did that do them?

Thrust into high-intensity games for the first time in weeks, the 100-win Dodgers were swept by 84-win Arizona in the NL Division Series last October, and their 111-win team lost to 89-win San Diego in a four-game NLDS in 2022. Arizona went on to reach the World Series in 2023, and San Diego reached the NL Championship Series in 2022.

Rojas believes the stress and intensity of a six-week tussle with the Padres and Diamondbacks for the division title and wild-card spots will make the Dodgers far more battle-tested for October than they were the past two seasons.

“Those teams that have to win games down the stretch to get into the playoffs, like the Diamondbacks last year, they roll into the postseason knowing how to win and how to play in those do-or-die games,” Rojas said.

“I think they have the advantage because the pressure is off, the anxiety is gone, because you’ve been playing games like that and winning them. You have the confidence you can win them.”

Sunday’s nail-biter of a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium had that pennant-race feel, the Dodgers breaking a scoreless tie with two fifth-inning runs off ace Sonny Gray and Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw throwing six shutout innings in which he gave up four hits, struck out two and walked one.

Kershaw, in his fifth start back from shoulder surgery, did not allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth, when he gave up singles to Pedro Pages and Victor Scott II to open the inning.

But he escaped the two-on, no-out jam by getting Masyn Winn to fly out to center field and Willson Contreras to ground to third, where Rojas turned an unassisted double play.

Kershaw’s pitch count was at just 70 when he was pulled in favor of right-hander Evan Phillips, who gave up one hit in a scoreless seventh. Daniel Hudson gave up a pinch-hit solo homer to Lars Nootbaar that pulled the Cardinals to within 2-1 in the eighth.

Michael Kopech then pitched around a one-out throwing error by catcher Austin Barnes in the ninth, getting Nolan Arenado to ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play for his second save of the series.

There was no score in the fifth when Gray hung a first-pitch, 80-mph curve to Shohei Ohtani, who smashed a 113.5-mph line drive into the right-field bullpen for his 39th homer of the season and a 1-0 lead. Of Ohtani’s 12 hits in August, seven are home runs.

Mookie Betts walked, and Gavin Lux, who doubled in his first two at-bats, singled Betts to third. Teoscar Hernández struck out for the second out, but Rojas lined a clutch RBI single to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

The win gave the Dodgers a 4-3 record on their trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis and assured that they would remain at least two games ahead of the Padres, who were playing the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon.

The Dodgers rotation is still an injury-marred mess, with ace Tyler Glasnow (elbow tendonitis) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (rotator-cuff strain) on the shelf, and Walker Buehler, who has returned from a second Tommy John surgery and an inflamed right hip, and Bobby Miller, back form an inflamed shoulder, struggling to regain their form.

But the lineup is nearing full strength, having welcomed back right fielder Betts after a seven-week absence because of a left-hand fracture last week. Tommy Edman (ankle sprain) will be activated on Monday, and third baseman Max Muncy (oblique strain) will be activated Monday or Tuesday.

And the bullpen received a huge shot in the arm with the acquisition of Kopech from the Chicago White Sox, right-hander Ryan Brasier returned on Saturday from a right-calf strain that sidelined him for 3 ½ months, and Blake Treinen (left-hip discomfort) will be activated on Tuesday.

The Dodgers will need all the manpower they can get to fend off the pesky Padres and Diamondbacks, who are nipping at their heels.

“They’ve been hot, but I feel like that gives us motivation to continue to play our game and win games, you know?” Rojas said. “We can’t really relax right now, even though we have the [second] best record in the NL. I think it’s good that we’re playing games we need to win, because that’s how we’re going to have to play in the playoffs.”

Manager Dave Roberts views the tight division race as something of a double-edged sword.

“I think you can look at it both ways,” Roberts said. “Being in a real pennant race, I think brings out the [best in] individuals, in teams, I think. The other side of the coin is, you don’t have the luxury of resting guys or kind of red-lining certain guys because every game is even more magnified. That’s not necessarily a good thing. … But you play this game for competition, and we’re in a competition for the next month.”

Short hops

The jammed middle finger on Freddie Freeman’s throwing hand, injured when he was struck by a sixth-inning ground ball Saturday night, worsened Sunday, preventing the first baseman from playing against the Cardinals, the first time in his three years with the Dodgers he has missed a game because of injury. Freeman, who is listed as day to day, will undergo a CT scan on Monday. Though he could not grip a bat on Sunday, Roberts said the injury is “not too concerning at this point in time.” Muncy took some ground balls with triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday in case he is needed to fill in for Freeman this week. … The Dodgers called up right-hander Ben Casparious from triple A to add some length to the bullpen. Right-hander Brent Honeywell was designated for assignment.

Friday marked the start of Players’ Weekend in Major League Baseball, the annual celebration where players use an eclectic mix of custom bats, cleats and other equipment to highlight different parts of their lives.

Established in 2017, this year Players’ Weekend is introducing a specific theme for each of the three days. Friday is about highlighting players’ hobbies and interests. On Saturday, the focus shifts to charities and community efforts that particularly move players. Sunday is built around honoring those who helped players in their journey to the big leagues.

The weekend wraps with Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers playing in the “Little League Classic” in Williamsport, Penn., at 7:10 p.m. E.T.

A lot of what’s to come is going to be revealed on the field or social media, but with an assist from Major League Baseball, here’s a sneak peek of what’s in store:

1. Tarik Skubal of the Tigers goes by the nickname “Skoob,” so really, he had no choice but to wear spikes with Scooby Doo on them, and we’re glad for it. The Tigers are also going to be selling a “Skubal Snack Burger” that he helped design, with bacon, pepper jack cheese, light mayo and a fried egg.

2. Willy Adames of the Milwaukee Brewers has a bat for each theme day. Check out the blue one, pictured in the middle, with the sea turtle and the recycle logo, representing his love for the ocean and the Players for the Planet charity.

Willy Adames has bats for each day of Players’ Weekend. (Courtesy of MLB)

Look closely, and you can see his Rawlings glove has water droplets painted on too.

Willy Adames also has a custom glove. (Courtesy of MLB)

3.
Most of the Cincinnati Reds this weekend are expected to wear cleats designed by patients at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The shoes will then be auctioned on Reds.com at some point following the weekend, with the proceeds benefitting Cincinnati Children’s.

4.
Back in 2022, a group of young Philadelphia Phillies became known as the “Phillies Daycare,” and players like Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott are leaning into the bit.

Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh show off their daycare bats. (courtesy of MLB)

5. Since The Athletic is built on the written word, how could we possibly ignore what the Toronto Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement is bringing to the plate: a bat that is a pencil, or is it a pencil that is a bat? Write on.

✏️ It might be Summer, but Ernie is ready for school this #PlayersWeekend! pic.twitter.com/2iDYRZJXRI

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 16, 2024

(Top photo of Skubal’s cleats: Allison Farrand / Ilitch Sports)