Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wasn’t the only one upset with officiating in Sunday’s 67-62 overtime loss to the Liberty in the deciding Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.
NBA stars, including Lakers forward LeBron James and Bucks guard Damian Lillard, called out referees amid fury online over a foul call on Lynx center Alanna Smith with 5.2 seconds left in regulation — which set up Liberty star Breanna Stewart’s two made free-throw attempts to tie the game and send it into overtime.
“I’m sorry but that wasn’t a foul! Let the damn players dictate the outcome of a close battled tested game,” James wrote on X.
“Refs called this game like they knew the assignment in the 2nd half boy. Great game,” Damian Lillard wrote.
Former NBA guard Isaiah Thomas said, “They lowkey cheated for NY but I get it lol.”
Three-time WNBA champ Candace Parker, who announced her retirement from basketball in April, also weighed in.
“Was that reviewed foul call a foul? I don’t think it was,” she wrote. “Marginal contact.”
Parker added, “That call didn’t lose the game but boy it [woulda] prolly won it for Minny if it was overturned.”
Washington Mystics center Shakira Austin also called out the officiating.
“Refs sold wow…..,” Austin wrote on X.
“I need whatever prayer New York had no cap,” she added in another post with a bunch of crying emojis.
Reeve was furious after the game and said the 2024 WNBA title was “stolen” from the Lynx due to officiating.
“I saw a very physical and aggressive New York team,” Reeve said in her postgame press conference. “We know this from being a part of the games for so long that sometimes you get away with this stuff when you’re physical and aggressive, and they certainly did. It’s a shame that officiating had such a hand in a series like this.”
“… I thought today was incredibly disappointing. The challenge — we’ve got to change our challenge rules. The officials doing the game should have a third party because that was not a foul.
Reeve explained that the call decided the game.
“That call should’ve been reversed on that challenge… If we would have turned that clip in, they would have told us that it was marginal contact, no foul,” she said. “Guaranteed. Guaranteed.”