Eric the Blue

I’ve been trying to gauge what percentage of my unhappiness with the officiating in the Lynx semifinal series against the Phoenix Mercury can be attributed to a rooting interest. Maybe a hundred. Who knows? The rooter is not in a good place to judge.

One thing for sure, though, is that the Lynx have some history of getting screwed by the officials in big games. Back in 2016, the championship series against the L.A. Sparks was best-of-five, and the Lynx were leading the decisive fifth game by a point when, with just over a minute left, Los Angeles made a basket after the shot clock had expired.. The play was not reviewed, the basket was allowed, the Lynx lost the game by one point, and next day the WNBA put out a statement acknowledging the error. Thanks!

Last year, the Lynx were in another all-or-nothing Game 5 of the championship series, this time against the New York Liberty. The Lynx led by two points in the closing seconds when a referee, but not slow motion instant replay, detected an act-of-shooting foul that allowed the Liberty to pull even. New York then won the game and the championship in overtime. Lynx star Napheesa Collier took 23 shots in the game, almost all of them from within a few feet of the basket, and was in the estimation of the officials never fouled: she wasn’t awarded a single free throw. For the game, the Lynx team shot 8 free throws, compared to 25 for the Liberty. Made field goals were 26-22 in favor of the Lynx; made free throws were in favor of New York by 21-7.

Possibly the Lynx just foul a lot, and their opponents hardly ever: “style of play,” or something, something, etc. If so, the habit persisted in this year’s semi-final series. In Game 4, free throw attempts were 23 to 9 in favor of Phoenix; the previous game’s disparity had been 22 to 11 in the same direction. Collier again never got to the foul line in the last game she was able to play. The no-call on the play she was injured on appeared to me, if not correct, not outrageous either. Her coach Cheryl Reeve’s explosion was probably the conclusion to a slow burn, and a desire to protect her star, a player who seems to be loved by all in proportion to how well they know her.

I’m referring to a slow burn of years. If you go back and watch Reeve’s press conference after the 2016 championship game, you’ll see that she was making the same points nine years later. The players in this league are really good. The officiating is not. The players deserve better.