Reeve lambasted referees for the way they handled Game 3 physicality.
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve lambasted the officiating crew of their WNBA semifinals Game 3 against the Phoenix Mercury on Friday. The game saw the Mercury handing an 84-76 defeat to the table toppers, pushing them to the edge of elimination. However, that wasn’t the reason behind Reeve’s rant. The head coach went off on the referees for the way they handled the game after star forward Napheesa Collier suffered an ankle injury.
“This is the look that our league wants, for some reason,” Reeve said about the game’s physicality. “We were trying to play through it, we tried not to make excuses. One of the best players in the league (Collier) shot zero free throws. Zero, and she had five fouls. Zero free throws. Got her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out, and probably has a fracture.”
Demanding a change in the leadership, she said, “And so this is what our league wants. OK. But I want to call for a change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It’s bad for the game.”
“The officiating crew that we had for tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is f***ing malpractice. I can take an L with the best of them. I don’t think we should have to play through more than what they did.”
Notably, in the final 23.8 seconds of Game 3, Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas swiped the ball from Napheesa Collier and scored a layup. Thomas made an incidental touch with Collier, resulting in the latter going down twisting her left ankle. Surprisingly, no foul was called on Thomas for the contact, while Collier had to walk out of the game.
The entire incident left Reeve fuming, and she stormed the court, leading to her second technical for the game. As a result she was ejected. However, despite that, she continued to charge the officials and had to be held back by her assistants and Natisha Hiedeman. The four-time WNBA Coach of the Year eventually walked down the tunnel towards the locker room. However, she didn’t hold herself back during the postgame interview and weighed in on the game officials.
Talking about Collier, the five-time WNBA All-Star posted 17 points on the scoreboard. However, she was held scoreless during the fourth quarter, and didn’t have any free throw attempts for the second time in the season. There is no official update on her injury, but according to Reeve, she has probably suffered a fracture, which if true, would put an end to her postseason.
As for the Lynx, they are just one defeat away from calling it a season. Collier has been their leading scorer, and if she sits out on Sunday, it will put their entire season and championship dreams in jeopardy.
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