The Indiana Fever had a long meeting with players and coaches after their 16-point loss to the Portland Fire, and a bench blowup between star guard Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White, on Saturday.
Veteran Sophie Cunningham explained that the near two-hour meeting took place on Monday, and addressed the team’s identity and lack of execution on defensive schemes as the Fever are 4-4 to start the season.
“It was a really good meeting, and so hopefully we try to turn the page and everyone is kinda on the same page now — and hopefully Thursday you guys will notice that,” Cunningham told reporters during a Tuesday practice ahead of a matchup with the Atlanta Dream.
“… It’s owning your role, knowing your role and also just being tough. We’re just too soft right now and that’s not what our identity is so we need to get away from that… You just have to be willing to play defense – it’s not fun, no one wants to do it. But the good defensive teams are the ones that win.
“I think something that’s hurting us right now is we’re only playing one defensive scheme… So we gotta dial in, we gotta focus, your IQ has to be on point, you have to know what schemes were doing and if you can’t do that, then you can’t play and that’s the point that we’re at right now.”
Cunningham added that the “much-needed” meeting was initiated by the coaches and “then ended up being player-led.”
White said the meeting was productive and “coach-led in terms of just asking some questions” among the group.
“I think anytime you get an opportunity to have authentic, real conversation, it’s good… Some of it’s execution and some of it’s learning one another and some of it’s dealing with all the things our team has to deal with,” White said.
“… Anything we do, we want this to be a player-led team, we want them to be empowered to take ownership, have hard conversations, uplift one another.”
Fellow veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell explained that the Fever’s culture has been tested.
“If you think that everything is glitz and glamor, then you’re mistaken,” she said. “I think that hard times make you or hard times can break you, and hopefully it don’t break us.”
Cunningham, White, and Mitchell all agreed that they’d rather have those growing pains earlier in the season than down the line.
The Fever dropped their second straight game with the 100-84 loss to Portland.
Clark, who got into foul trouble, struggled on both ends — and was held to just six points on 1-for-7 shooting in 22 minutes.
The Fever play Angel Reese and the Dream on Thursday in Indianapolis.