The officiating remains a huge point of contention for WNBA teams, with Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve being the latest person to criticize the referees in the wake of Napheesa Collier’s injury suffered late in Friday’s Game 3 loss to the Phoenix Mercury.
Speaking to reporters after her team’s 84-76 defeat, Reeve called the officiating “f–king malpractice” and put out a call to the league to make significant changes.
“If this is what the league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating,” Reeve said. “The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinal-playoff worthy, it’s f–king malpractice.”
Collier limped off the court to the Lynx bench after Alyssa Thomas made contact with her left leg while going for a steal late in the fourth quarter. No foul was called and Thomas drove to the basket for an easy layup to put Phoenix up 82-78.
Reeve and associate head coach Eric Thibault both received technical fouls for arguing there was no call. Reeve was also ejected from the game. Satou Sabally made both her technical free-throw attempts to extend the Mercury’s lead to eight with 21.8 seconds remaining.
The team didn’t provide an official update on Collier’s status, though Reeve said she “probably” suffered a fracture in her ankle.
Collier finished with 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, but she didn’t get to the free-throw line once. Reeve was particularly outraged that her superstar forward didn’t generate one foul call despite having “her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out.”
Reeve went on to say she doesn’t have an issue losing a game, but didn’t “think we should have to play through what we did.” Her final comment as she was walking out of the press room was to say the refs are “f–king awful.”
This marks the second time this week that a head coach has been unhappy with the playoff officiating. Becky Hammon of the Las Vegas Aces said on Tuesday that the “out of control” for both teams in their series against the Indiana Fever.
The foul disparity wasn’t egregious in the game, with Mercury actually being called for one more personal foul than Minnesota (15-14). This was the second time in three games so far in this series that Collier hasn’t attempted a free throw.
The Lynx need to win in Phoenix to send the series back to Minnesota for a winner-take-all Game 5.
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