Cunningham: Fever on 'good page' after sit-down

Two-time WNBA All-Star Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters Monday that they had moved beyond what appeared to be a sideline spat. Apparently, they weren't just speaking publicly about the incident. On Tuesday, guard Sophie Cunningham revealed the Fever's players and coaches also had a frank, "long" conversation intended to hash things out and get everyone back on the same page following back-to-back losses on the West Coast. "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 the Portland Fire, an expansion team Indiana beat by 17 points just 10 days earlier without Clark. White and Clark each downplayed the scene Monday, saying it was merely two competitors trying to figure out how to win a game. White explained she was simply challenging her star player to perform at a higher level. Clark said the interaction was overblown and that White is somebody "I will ride for for the rest of my life." "I think it's a part of being a family," Mitchell 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." Indiana opened the season considered a title contender after White helped the Fever get within one win of the WNBA Finals despite a series of debilitating injuries, including the loss of Clark. Not much has gone right in this season's first month, though. The Fever enter Thursday's game against Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream with a 4-4 record, a half-game out of the eighth and final playoff spot and hoping to snap this two-game skid. Clark hasn't been her typical self either. While the former Iowa star and NCAA's career scoring leader is averaging a career-high 20.1 points along with 8.1 assists per game, she is shooting 39.3% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range and has committed 4.6 turnovers per game. She has also been criticized for her defensive miscues. "I'm not perfect, and I know I'm not perfect," Clark said Monday. "Right now, we're playing like [the] .500 team that we are, and I have to look myself in the mirror and find ways that I can make this team better." But Clark isn't alone on defense. While Indiana is scoring a league-best 91.8 points per game, it is tied for the second-highest points allowed at 89.0. "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." Cunningham also noted playing more types of defenses would help. White said she believes varied defenses will come in time, but she first wanted the players to build their confidence by doing a few things well. While White wants to see improvements, she doesn't believe the struggles are related to effort. "Oftentimes when you see a 'lack of effort,' a lot of it is just indecision, right?" she said. "It's paralysis by analysis." Perhaps airing out those thoughts will be part of a longer-term solution to what they hope is a short-term problem. Cunningham and her teammates certainly hope that's true as they begin the defense of last year's Commissioner's Cup championship. "No one wants to have these meetings, but everyone, every team has them," Cunningham said. "Everyone has trials, everyone has shortcomings, and I'm just thankful ours is at the beginning of the season and not during September, October. "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." Information from ESPN's Kareem Copeland and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Cunningham: Fever on 'good page' after sit-down

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