Reeve was ejected in the final minute of the fourth quarter after Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from Napheesa Collier, who remained on the floor in pain after her leg made contact with Thomas. A fired-up Reeve ran onto the court and had to be restrained by assistant coaches and players, leading to a second technical foul and an ejection.
Order ‘Rare Gems’ and save 30%
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. “Rare Gems” follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.
If you enjoy Megdal’s coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.” Click the link below to order and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout to save 30%!
Following the loss, Reeve commented on the officiating during the game, instead of taking questions from reporters.
“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.” She continued, “The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinal-playoff worthy, it’s fucking malpractice.”
Reeve also shared that Collier had potentially suffered an injury as a result of the contact from Thomas. She did not provide any further details on the injury and there is no update on her status for Game 4.
“We were trying to play through it, trying not to make excuses. But one of the best players in the league, she had zero free throws and she had five fouls,” Reeve said. “She had her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out.”
According to the WNBA, Reeve’s “conduct and comments included aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in the post-game press conference.”
In addition, associate head coach Eric Thibault has been fined for inappropriate interactions with an official on the court and assistant coach Rebekah Brunson has been fined for comments she made on social media that were directed at the officials.
Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?
Subscribe now to The IX Sports and receive our daily women’s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.
Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.