Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve unleashed a profanity-laced postgame address, in which she called for a league-level change in officiating, just minutes after she was ejected from Friday’s WNBA semifinals game.
Reeve was tossed from the top-seeded Lynx’s 84-76 road loss to the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3, after she charged toward referees on the court and had to be held back by her assistants and a player. She had been incensed about a no-call on Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, who stole the ball from Lynx star Napheesa Collier near midcourt with just under 30 seconds remaining. Thomas went coast-to-coast to provide Phoenix with a six-point lead, while Collier slapped her hand on the court in pain, appearing to suffer an ankle injury.
Minnesota finished Game 3 without Napheesa Collier or Coach Cheryl Reeve.
Coach was assessed a second technical foul and ejected after Collier collided with Alyssa Thomas on this play. pic.twitter.com/6ZNGuUSXi9
— espnW (@espnW) September 27, 2025
Collier left the court in tears and limping with 21.8 seconds remaining as an athletic trainer and teammate helped her to the locker room. She did not return. Reeve said Collier “probably has a fracture.”
“If this is what our league wants, then OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating,” Reeve said. “It’s bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership team to deem those three people semifinals playoff-worthy is f—ing malpractice. I can take an ‘L’ with the best of them. I don’t think we should have to play through more than what they did.”
Replays indicate Thomas cleanly stripped the ball before the collision with Collier.
Throughout the playoffs, multiple coaches have voiced frustrations about the physicality allowed by officials. After the Las Vegas Aces’ Game 2 semifinals victory over the Indiana Fever earlier this week, coach Becky Hammon said, “the physicality is out of control.”
Reeve picked up her first technical foul midway through the second quarter as she argued that Collier was fouled. She was assessed her second technical in the chaotic sequence with less than a minute remaining. Associate head coach Eric Thibault was assessed a technical foul as well.
“They’re f—ing awful,” said Reeve, whose postgame comments lasted two minutes.
She did not take questions following the defeat.
“I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating.”
Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve responded to the officiating in Game 3 of the Lynx-Mercury WNBA Semifinal. pic.twitter.com/xuyfxmyqLa
— ESPN (@espn) September 27, 2025
Collier, the 2025 WNBA MVP runner-up, finished with 17 points, but she attempted just one shot in the fourth quarter and did not score in the period. Much to Reeve’s frustration, Collier did not attempt a free throw in 37 minutes. Collier had five fouls at the time of her exit.
“Take out one of the best players in the league because you have no control of the game!” Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson wrote on X.
Minnesota attempted 11 free throws in the loss, while Phoenix had 22. The Mercury shot 13 free throws in Game 2 while the Lynx attempted nine. Minnesota also had a 6-4 free-throw advantage in Game 1.
Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts did not provide an assessment of the game’s officials. “We haven’t talked about officiating all the playoffs. We just play. We’re worried about us,” he said.
Thomas’ steal-and-score sequence helped Phoenix seal its Game 3 victory and has the Lynx on the brink of elimination. Minnesota has been on a quest to return to the championship series to avenge its finals loss last season to the New York Liberty, but fourth-seeded Phoenix hasn’t flinched.
For the first time all season, Satou Sabally, Thomas and Kahleah Copper each scored more than 20 points on Friday. Sabally led Phoenix with 23, including 15 fourth-quarter points.
“We probably envisioned more of this throughout the year than we had,” Tibbetts said. “This is what we had hoped for, right? They’ve stepped up in big moments.”
Phoenix needed a historic 20-point second-half comeback to prevail in Game 2, but its victory on Friday didn’t need similar heroics. Phoenix’s eight-point margin of victory was the game’s largest lead.
Reeve has voiced her frustrations at league officials before, most notably after Game 5 of last year’s WNBA Finals, in which she said the title was “stolen” from her players. She was not fined for doing so, according to league sources.
(Photo of Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas: Kate Frese / NBAE via Getty Images)
