The Indiana Fever are now riding a three-game winning streak after defeating the Connecticut Sun Saturday night. But you might not know from the line of questioning the team faced after the victory.
Caitlin Clark (who led all scorers with 25 points), Sophie Cunningham (who scored 11 straight in the 4th), and coach Stephanie White did the postgame press conference together and were asked to address the noise around the squad.
Of course, much of that noise has been created or parroted from social media or YouTube, meaning it is being given legitimacy by being framed as a real story.
Not to say everything has been smooth sailing for the Fever. They did struggle enough to need a team meeting earlier this season, and a heated sideline exchange between Clark and White made national news. But it seems after every game, some are looking for anything to read too much into, and treating all interactions between Clark and White like the Zapruder film.
And clearly the team is growing tired of it.
“We’re on a three-game winning streak, we’re doing good,” Clark said after the win.
“I think it’s speculation, opinions, I don’t know about reports,” she added when asked to comment on said “reports” of division amongst the team.
White then came in even stronger.
“I don’t think you’re talking about journalism,” the Fever coach said, complete with an amused shrug from Clark.
“If we’re going to continue to create news from fans on social media or bots on social media, or whatever it may be, then that’s a problem. I think legitimate news sources need to report legitimate news,” she added.
Cunningham then chimed in with one word, “facts”.
The nonsense swirling around the Fever has been a theme. “I don’t know why we’re still on this,” a frustrated Clark said about a similar line of questioning before Indiana’s June 6 game against the New York Liberty.
The difference now is the Fever are winning, so theoretically, it should be increasingly difficult to conjure up tales of division.
Clark is thriving amid the winning streak as well, meaning there shouldn’t be much to work with in critiquing her individually either, unless pundits choose to focus on her interactions with the officials.
But clearly the team would like the focus to be where it belongs: on the court. And in that realm, the Fever are currently finding success.
As far as their shared sentiment about the speculation, Cunningham was correct in her assessment—facts.
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