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Stephen A. Smith had some strong words to share about Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, even questioning how she can be in her position.
The ESPN personality went on a rant calling out White for how she handled the aftermath of DiJonai Carrington’s Flagrant 2 foul on her Fever star, Sophie Cunningham, this past weekend. Carrington smacked Cunningham across the face, leading to the flagrant foul and ejection from the game.
During White’s post-game news conference, she actually praised Carrington’s aggressive play before claiming she didn’t see the whole play in the moment and couldn’t comment any further on it.
White has since issued a pre-rehearsed, fiery defense of herself before Tuesday’s win against the New York Liberty.
“You know, this isn’t necessarily for those people that are in this room. This is more for an online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist,” White said to reporters. “Trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am, of what I’m about. Our players’ success, our players’ health and wellness, our players’ safety is always a top priority for me. One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players.”
Smith wasn’t buying it, and neither were Fever fans as boos rained down during the team’s home game on Tuesday.
“There are folks in Indiana at a home game booing you!” Smith said passionately on his show. “You ain’t the road team. You’re the home team … and they’re booing you!”
DIJONAI CARRINGTON RESPONDS TO ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ POST, BUT LEAVES MEANING OF IT STILL UNCLEAR
Smith also didn’t understand how White couldn’t see the whole play in question, one that continues to be talked about especially as Carrington remains mysterious as to why she posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” on Threads immediately following her ejection.
“How are you the head coach…and you didn’t see the play? It’s your job to…watch the game. How did you not see the play?” Smith said.
White simply said after Saturday’s game that she didn’t think “DiJonai intentionally came out to get [Cunningham] to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen and I thought it was the right call.” But then she went on to defend Carrington’s play.
“One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man,” White, who used to coach Carrington with the Connecticut Sun, said. “She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so I don’t oppose the hard foul, but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
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Carrington’s foul wasn’t just hard, but a full clothesline of Cunningham, who understandably got right up to confront the Chicago Sky guard. Cunningham gave a light shove to Carrington as teammates were trying to separate her before things got even uglier.
“For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game, I didn’t see the play in real time,” White said during her defense on Tuesday. “I went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully, Sophie’s OK. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn’t have that in real time. I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100% always have my players’ back. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. All the time. They know that.”
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While White heard boos from the stands, the Fever got the job done against their rival Liberty squad, 108-92. But Clark admitted the jeers from the crowd made her “a little sick,” while Cunningham stated her knowledge that “Coach loves” this team.
The Fever will return home on Friday night to face Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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