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Cheryl Reeve calls out WNBA officiating after Napheesa Collier injury<\/p>\n
Cheryl Reeve did not hold back when talking about the officials in her postgame press conference after Napheesa Collier left the game with an injury.<\/p>\n
Sports Pulse<\/p>\n
Way to put your thumb on the scale of the playoffs, WNBA.<\/p>\n
Regardless if you think Minnesota Lynx<\/a> coach Cheryl Reeve\u2019s f-bomb-laced tirade about officiating<\/a> was out of bounds or that she crossed a line by \u201caggressively pursuing\u201d officials on the court, suspending her for what is an elimination game<\/a> is a far greater offense. Why not just spot the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> 25 points for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon while you\u2019re at it? Scrap the last two games of the series and say the series has been reduced to best-of-three?<\/p>\n Penalize Reeve, sure. But don\u2019t punish her team in the process. Because now it just looks like the league is retaliating for Reeve having the guts to speak the truth about the W\u2019s culpability in Napheesa Collier\u2019s injury<\/a> and its long-standing indifference to the health and safety of its players.<\/p>\n That Reeve continues to point out that a bad call in last year\u2019s Finals might have cost the Lynx a fifth title probably doesn\u2019t help matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Players and coaches have been warning the WNBA for years the physicality of the game has gotten out of hand and the officiating is trash. Someone, they said, is going to get hurt if the WNBA doesn\u2019t get it under control.<\/p>\n Sure enough, someone did! And not just anyone, one of the game\u2019s biggest stars in one of the season\u2019s biggest games.<\/p>\n Collier, a runner-up to A\u2019ja Wilson for MVP each of the last two seasons, will miss Game 4 on Sunday afternoon after being hurt in the closing minutes of Game 3. Collier and Alyssa Thomas collided after Thomas stripped her of the ball. Collier and Thomas\u2019 knees knocked, and Collier appeared to twist her ankle as she fell to the ground.<\/p>\n Collier briefly took a seat on the bench before leaving the floor, limping and in tears.<\/a> Reeve, livid at Collier being treated like a crash-test dummy all series, had to be held back by her assistants and Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman and then lit into the refs after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this is what our league wants, OK. But I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating,\u201d Reeve said, not even trying to contain her fury.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff-worthy is f—ing malpractice.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Thomas\u2019 steal was clean. But there is a case to be made that she should have been whistled for running through Collier afterward, initiating contact as she tried to make a play. Or, to quote the W\u2019s own rule book<\/a>, \u201cA player shall not hold, push, charge into, impede the progress of an opponent by extending an arm, leg or knee or by bending the body into a position that is not normal.\u201d<\/p>\n The larger case to be made is that if refs hadn\u2019t let this game \u2014 hell, the whole series \u2014 go off the rails in terms of physicality, Thomas might have been playing with more restraint and might not have barreled into Collier. But when the refs, and by extension the league, give their blessing to a roller derby, players are going to play accordingly.<\/p>\n And an injury like Collier\u2019s is inevitable.<\/p>\n \u201cShe got her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out. And probably has a fracture,\u201d Reeve said Friday night.<\/p>\n Officiating, in any sport and at any level, is a tough job. You are asked to make split-second decisions on a fast-moving game, and you get harangued by players, coaches and fans alike.<\/p>\n But the level of complaints for officiating in the WNBA compared with the NBA, and even the college game, are not remotely close. In part because the NBA has recognized that poor officiating is bad for the league\u2019s business and taken steps to clean it up.<\/p>\n NBA referees are full-time employees, sparing them from having to pick up games in other leagues and spread themselves thin. Reviews are done at the league\u2019s Replay Center<\/a>, where additional personnel and the latest technology help ensure the right decisions are made and it doesn\u2019t take an hour to do it.<\/p>\n