On Tuesday , the Minnesota Lynx led the Phoenix Mercury 1-0 in the WNBA Semi-Finals, fresh off the best season in franchise history.
Since then, they’ve dropped two straight games, blowing a 20-point lead in Game 2 and subsequently dropping Game 3 on Friday night. To make matters worse, Napheesa Collier exited the game in visible pain with 22 seconds to play, seemingly injuring her ankle on the final play of the game.
But the bad news continues to pour in for the Lynx — they’ll be without head coach Cheryl Reeve in Sunday’s must-win Game 4 against the Mercury.
That’s because the WNBA announced on Saturday that Reeve was suspended for her “conduct and comments” after Game 3, which included “aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection… inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in a post-game press conference.”
The league also announced that assistant coaches Eric Thibault and Rebekkah Brunson were each fined.
What led to Cheryl Reeve’s Game 4 suspension
Cheryl Reeve’s outburst came after Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from Collier, a play that gave the Mercury a 6-point advantage with 22 seconds to play, and also ended with Collier on the ground in visible pain. On Saturday, the NBA’s official refereeing account stated that the play was not a foul, and that the no-call was correct.
Reeve immediately went berserk on officials and was almost immediately ejected. She was seen swearing at Mercury fans on her way out, and continued the profanities at the podium.
“The officiating crew that we had tonight — for the leadership to deem those three people semi-finals playoff worthy, is fucking malpractice,” Reeve said at the podium, speaking for two interrupted minutes and not taking questions.
After Game 3, Reeve said that Collier could have a fracture, though she didn’t elaborate on which body part. Collier’s availability for Game 4 has yet to be revealed by the Lynx.
“If this is what our league wants, okay. Then, I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating,” Reeve said on Friday night. “It’s bad for the game.”
That could end up being her last postgame press conference of the year.
