Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve delivered an all-time rant late on Friday night after she was ejected from her team’s devastating 84-76 loss to the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of their semifinal series. A furious Reeve called for “change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating” and deemed the referee assignment for the contest “f—ing malpractice.”
With under 30 seconds to play and the Mercury clinging to a four-point lead, Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from Napheesa Collier and wiped out the Lynx star in the process. As Thomas took the ball the length of the court for a game-sealing layup, Collier lay on the ground in agony with an apparent lower leg injury.
No foul was called on the play, and Reeve, who had already received a technical foul earlier in the game, went ballistic. She started screaming at the officials and had to be held back by players and assistant coaches.
When she arrived at the postgame podium, she was still steaming and let out more anger. Here are her comments in full:
“We talked about how dangerous it can be. You’re hearing it from the other series, you’re hearing it from other coaches, you’re hearing [Las Vegas Aces coach] Becky [Hammon] talk about, when you let the physicality happen, people get hurt, there’s fights. And this is the look that our league wants, for some reason.
“We were trying to play through it, we were trying not to make excuses. One of the best players in the league 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.
“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 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. We’ve got players — [Maria Kliundikova’s] on the glass, gets f—ing cracked and there’s no call. And all of them say, ‘It wasn’t my call. I don’t know. I didn’t see it that way.’ They’re f—ing awful.”
Collier’s status remains unclear. Thomas crashed into her left knee and her left ankle rolled severely. Earlier in the season, Collier missed just over three weeks with a right ankle sprain. If she’s sidelined for Game 4, that would be a major blow to the Lynx’s hopes of keeping their season alive.
Earlier this week, Aces coach Becky Hammon called out the officials over how much contact was being allowed in the semifinal series between her team and the Indiana Fever. Hammon said the physicality was “out of control” and would lead to fights if it happened in the NBA.
WNBA playoffs: Aces’ Becky Hammon says physicality is ‘out of control,’ would lead to fights in NBA
Jack Maloney
This is not the first time that Reeve has let loose on the league and the officials.
After the Lynx’s controversial loss to the Liberty in the deciding Game 5 of the 2024 Finals, Reeve said the title was “stolen” from her team. She escaped without a fine for that incident, but is unlikely to avoid punishment for this tirade.
Game 4 between the Lynx and Mercury is set for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
