ATLANTA â The New York Liberty are down 2-0 to the Atlanta Dream after narrowly losing 101-98 in overtime of Game 2 in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.
The defeat wasn’t the only thing upsetting the Liberty postgame.
New York forward Breanna Stewart expressed frustration over a reset timeout in overtime she was under the impression the team could have taken in the waning seconds. Angel Reese made two free throws with four seconds remaining in overtime. Stewart said she was hoping to advance the ball, but was told there was no reset timeout left by the officiating crew.
“I asked Kevin (Fahy), I said, ‘Do we have a reset timeout?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to check at the table.’ So then he looked to Fatou (Cissoko-Stephens), and she said, ‘No.’ So, then he told me no. Of course, who knows what would happen in the game, but we would have hopefully a better shot on goal,” Stewart said of the final play, her 32-foot 3-point shot.
“This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout at the end and they tell us no, and then we leave the game with a reset timeout, it’s pretty frustrating. Yeah, OK, I kind of got a good look at the end, but would just love to have some clarity on that situation.”
Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco said he was told there was no reset timeout.
“Yes, same thing. They said we didn’t have it. They just said we didn’t have it,” DeMarco said when asked about the timeout. “Yeah, multiple staff members. So it is what it is. We got to demand more, but it is what it is.”
Dream head coach Karl Smesko told the media postgame he expected the Liberty to get the ball to halfcourt so that the could get a final shot.
“I thought they had a timeout left, but they played it out the way they did. So I was expecting it to be advanced, but it wasn’t,” Smesko said. “Fortunately, we were able to get the stop.”
The Liberty are officially submitting an official inquiry into the timeout situation with the league, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY.
Postgame, during a pool report, an official from the game was asked if New York had a reset timeout available to them on the last play of the game. The official responded, “Yes, each team receives two team timeouts and one reset during any overtime.” The official was then asked why Fahy told Stewart that the Liberty did not have a reset timeout.
The official said, “(Breanna) Stewart was standing behind referee Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese’s penalty free throws that New York did indeed have a reset timeout remaining.”
The official also said there was no communication with Liberty staff. A question was asked about protocol for tracking timeouts, and the official confirmed that timeouts are tracked by the scorers’ table and statistical staff.
Teams are responsible for managing keeping track of their timeouts. Officials may confirm the status of timeouts with the scorers’ table when necessary, but according to the pool report referee, officials do not track timeouts.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Breanna Stewart says Liberty were denied crucial timeout. WNBA officials say otherwise
Reporting by Meghan L. Hall, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect