The Minnesota Lynx came agonizingly close to winning their fifth WNBA title, as they fell in overtime to the Liberty on Sunday night in a winner-takes-all Game 5 in New York. The Lynx were up early, taking a 19-10 lead after the first quarter, but found themselves down three as the fourth quarter began, but clawed their way back in front to lead by two with five seconds to play.
At that point, the most controversial moment of the series took place, as Breanna Stewart caught the inbound pass and drew a foul on Alanna Smith that appeared to be very marginal contact with the body and clean contact up top on the hand and ball. Upon review, the call stood with the officials stating Smith was “not in legal guarding position” and Stewart hit two free throws to tie the game. The Lynx did get a clean shot at the win, but a Kayla McBride three didn’t fall and in overtime they went 0-for-6 from the field, scoring just two points to lose 67-62.
After the game, much of the discussion on the Lynx side was about the officiating, as one would expect in game with a massive free throw discrepancy (25 for New York, 8 for Minnesota) and a controversial foul call in the closing seconds. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve did not hold back in her postgame presser, calling for the WNBA to bring in a third party for reviews (like the NBA has with the replay center) because the officials on the floor don’t want to admit mistakes, and insisting that call should’ve been overturned and that the WNBA would agree it was marginal contact if they had sent it in to the league office.
Cheryl Reeve is livid with the officiating at the podium, and urges for there to be a third-party that looks at challenges:
“If we would have turned that clip in, they would have told us that it was marginal contact, no foul. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/z4SWgUuOcj
— Noa Dalzell
(@NoaDalzell) October 21, 2024
Reeve wasn’t done there, as she pointed out that the Liberty got away with more physicality all series and highlighted Napheesa Collier not shooting a single free throw in Game 5. She knew her comments would make headlines, and that seemed to be the reason, saying “this sh*t was stolen from us” and the officiating was the story of the three losses they had to the Liberty.
Cheryl Reeve: “This shit was stolen from us” pic.twitter.com/7p2Ie5vEsz
— CJ Fogler
(@cjzero) October 21, 2024
She also took aim at New York (and Las Vegas), saying the Lynx proved you can compete without “circumventing the cap or flying illegally.” It was as fiery a postgame presser as you’ll see from a coach, but Reeve clearly had plenty of frustrations to get off her chest and isn’t too worried about any fines coming her way from blasting the officiating. Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, unsurprisingly, had a different take, saying she thought the refs were “pretty fair.”