THE Indiana Fever are struggling for wins in the absence of Caitlin Clark, and teammates are trying to make sense of it.
Star player Sophie Cunningham has boiled the Fever‘s struggles down to team injuries.
Sophie Cunningham has pointed to injuries for the Fever’s slow start this season[/caption]
The Fever are in their second stint this season without Caitlin Clark[/caption]
Clark is now down with her second injury of the season, and it is clearly affecting the team.
“I think so far this season we’ve dealt with a lot of distractions,” Cunningham said.
“Some injuries… don’t know who’s playing.”
While the team is struggling with injuries, Cunningham said it can be good in the long run for the Fever to deal with adversity early in the season.
“But I think that’s really good for us. Let’s go through the adversity early, let’s learn from it,” she said.
“The good news is we’re not gonna peak too early, so I mean that’s a positive. It’s not an excuse.
“Everyone’s playing a back-to-back, everyone has this kind of rough schedule.
“For us, it’s another opportunity tomorrow, and we’ve got to capitalize on it.
“We are circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us, right? So everyone in our locker room, that’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on.
“We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent, and we got to lean on each other.
“And I think we’ve kind of wavered on that.”
The Fever are 7-8 on the season following a loss to the LA Sparks despite leading going into the fourth quarter.
Indiana was outscored 35-17 in the fourth before suffering the loss.
Cunningham joined the Fever this offseason via a trade, and has yet to be impressed by her new squad.
All-WNBA first and second team
THE 10 best players in the WNBA have been selected and named to the All-WNBA first and second team.
First team:
- Caitlin Clark – Indiana Fever
- Napheesa Collier – Minnesota Lynx
- Breanna Stewart – New York Liberty
- Alyssa Thomas – Connecticut Sun
- A’ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces
Second team:
- Kahleah Copper – Phoenix Mercury
- Sabrina Ionescu – New York Liberty
- Jonquel Jones – New York Liberty
- Arike Ogunbowale – Dallas Wings
- Nneka Ogwumike – Seattle Storm
She has called out changes that need to be made within the locker room to strengthen the team.
The team will have to deal with the loss of Clark while they make those changes.
The Fever are 2-4 this season without Clark on the court.
There is still no word on whether or not she will play against the Dallas Wings on Friday.
