Sophie Cunningham Shares 'Pissed Off' Sentiment About Indiana Fever Inconsistency

“We should have had yesterday,” Cunningham said to the media about the loss the Fever sustained to the new expansion franchise Golden State Valkyries Wednesday. “We’re running out of time to be honest and I think that it’s going to light a fire under our butts, so hopefully you’re going to see that energy shift tomorrow,” she said, talking about Friday’s matchup against the Atlanta Dream.

When Cunningham was asked to expand on her frustrations, she didn’t mince words holding a mirror to the team's streaky performances: “We have really good spurts, but it’s just…why are we not being consistent? Why are we not clicking when we need to click? Why do we get low when they go on a run?”

A major contributor to the see-saw of wins and losses was the team adjusting to franchise cornerstone piece Caitlin Clark being sidelined for half the season with injury, along with losing and adding new pieces amid her absence.

“We kinda got some flow when [Caitlin] was hurt and our offense was clicking, but now we have to have a new offense when she’s in there because she just brings that much to the game, so we have to adjust,” Cunningham said after Clark's July 9 return to the rotation was met with a subpar overall performance.

How the team can mentally and physically handle the obstacles thrown their way are some of the many questions Cunningham is asking herself as the Fever attempt to re-center heading into their next stretch of games preceding the All-Star break. 

With the second half of the season looming, there is still a good chunk of time to turn things around, but the margin for error is shrinking. Something Cunningham is keenly aware of.