Cheryl Reeve was not happy Sunday night.
The Minnesota Lynx head coach, shortly after her team fell in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals to the New York Liberty, absolutely unloaded on both the officiating and the Liberty at the Barclays Center.
“All the headlines will be, ‘Reeve cries foul.’ Bring it on, right?” Reeve said. “Bring it on, because this s*** was stolen from us.
Liberty force OT in Game 5 on controversial foul
Though Reeve is obviously pointing to a bigger issue with the officiating throughout the entire series, there was a clear moment in the final seconds of the fourth quarter Sunday night that changed the entire path of the game.
Liberty star Breanna Stewart drew a foul on a midrange jumper with less than six seconds on the clock, which sent her to the free-throw line. Stewart hit both shots from the stripe to tie the game and eventually force overtime. That propelled the Liberty to the 67-62 win and gave them their first championship in franchise history.
The foul on Stewart, however, was minimal at best. Reeve thought so, too, and even challenged the call. The call, though, was upheld.
With the Lynx up by 2 points and 5 seconds left in the game, a foul was called on Alanna Smith
The Lynx challenged the call but it was unsuccessful. Breanna Stewart hit both free throws and we are going to OT!!#WNBA pic.twitter.com/DzFra6gIis
— WNBA Universe (@wnbauniverse) October 21, 2024
After how Reeve felt Lynx star Napheesa Collier was fouled during the game, the call on Stewart didn’t make sense to her.
“You have a star player like Phee, you know, I just don’t get it,” she said. “I don’t get how she can be held and go to the basket and get hit, and then a marginal [foul] at best, at best, sends their best player to the free throw. That, I mean, that’s tough. It’s tough to swallow.”
The Lynx were called for 21 personal fouls in Game 5, compared to just 17 by the Liberty. The Liberty shot 25 free throws in the game, too, while the Lynx shot just eight. Collier fouled out in the final seconds, too. It was the only game she’s fouled out of all season.
In the Lynx’s other two losses of the series, there were similar trends. They were called for five more fouls than the Liberty in Game 3, but they shot only two fewer free throws. The teams were called for the same amount of fouls in Game 2, but the Liberty shot twice as many free throws.
Reeve isn’t blaming the loss entirely on the officiating. She knows there is more to it than that. But in each of the Lynx’s losses in the Finals, she feels the officiating has been way too inconsistent. That’s something “you shouldn’t have to overcome.”
“This s*** ain’t that hard. Officiating, it’s not that hard,” she said. “When somebody is being held, be consistent. If you don’t want to call holding on one end, then don’t call it on the other. Be consistent. Every team asks for that … So three games of the series, we’re talking about the same damn thing.”
Reeve, who earned WNBA Coach of the Year honors this season, just wrapped up her 15th season with the Lynx this fall. She led the team to four championships in a seven-year span with stars Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles from 2011-17. A championship this season would’ve been the Lynx’s fifth in franchise history, which would’ve set a WNBA record. Reeve, who also led Team USA to a gold medal earlier this summer at the Paris Olympics, is sure to be fined by the league for her comments in the coming days.
Regardless, the Liberty raised the trophy for the first time on Sunday night in Brooklyn. They had been to the Finals five times before this season, including in four of the league’s first six seasons, but had failed to win a championship until now.
“I mean, congratulations to the Liberty on their first championship … It took them 28 years,” Reeve said. “Congrats to them, you know. We were that close to our fifth, it just didn’t happen.
“It’s disappointing. It’s incredibly disappointing. … We were that damn close, and it hurts. It hurts.”
