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Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham did not mince words about the team’s recent struggles.
The Fever lost back-to-back games on the West Coast while Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White went viral for a sideline altercation, and Cunningham took issue with the team’s play.
“We have all the pieces we need (to win), but it’s knowing your role, owning your role and also just being tough,” Cunningham said. “We’re just too soft right now, and that’s not what our identity is, so we need to get away from that.”
On Monday, Clark and White said that they had moved on from their sideline spat. Cunningham said that the team had a meeting on Tuesday and hopes it helps turn the page.
“We had a team meeting (Monday) — a long meeting — and so hopefully we’ve kind of turned the page,” Cunningham said. “I think we were in there an hour and a half, almost two hours and we built back all the layers. I think everyone’s on a good page right now and ready to work. We’ll say it started (as a) coaches (meeting) and then ended up being players. It was much needed, though.”
Cunningham and All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell did not divulge specifics about what was discussed, and White said the meeting didn’t go quite as long as Cunningham thought.
Clearly, though, everyone thought it was necessary and valuable after TV cameras caught the incident between Clark and White during Saturday night’s 100-84 loss to Portland — an expansion team Indiana beat by 17 points just 10 days earlier without Clark.
CAITLIN CLARK FANS ERUPT AT HEAD COACH STEPHANIE WHITE AFTER FEVER BLOWOUT LOSS TO PORTLAND FIRE
Mitchell explained Clark and White’s sideline incident as part of being a family.
“I think it’s a part of being a family,” she said. “If you think everything is glitz and glamour, then you’re mistaken. I think hard times can make you or break you and, hopefully, it doesn’t break us, and I think losing is important because you find out a lot about yourself, about where you need to be, where you’re missing the mark and I’m happy that’s happening now. If there is frustration, I’d rather it be now than later.”
The Fever are currently 4-4 and a half-game out of the final playoff spot. They entered the season with high expectations after falling one win short of reaching the WNBA Finals despite missing a host of key players due to injury.
The Fever’s offense has been great. They average a league-best 91.8 points per game; the problem is their defense. They give up 89 points per game, which is the second-most in the WNBA.
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Cunningham said the team didn’t even watch film from their loss to the Fire in an effort to move on.
“We didn’t even watch film (from the Portland game), that tells you how bad it is because normally she (White) is watching every second of it. We wanted to flush that one, everyone knew it was bad. We all kind of watched it on our own and it’s just unacceptable. We’re too good to be playing like that.”
The Fever will look to turn it around when they play Angel Reese’s Atlanta Dream at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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