The New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime to win Game 5 of the WNBA Finals and capture a long awaited championship. However, the celebration certainly won’t come without controversy.
That’s because a questionable call sending Breanna Stewart to the free throw line at the end of regulation had many basketball observers up in arms. And that’s before Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve took the podium.
Reeve was understandably upset that her team was not the one hoisting the trophy. Especially since had her challenge of the call that allowed Stewart to send the game to OT been successful, she and Minnesota almost certainly would be the ones with the hardware currently.
So Cheryl did the next best thing, she took the attention off of the Liberty.
Reeve blasted the officiating process that resulted in the unsuccessful challenge and emphatically declared the game, and thus the series, was decided in that moment.
Cheryl Reeve on the final call of regulation pic.twitter.com/V55IwbowKJ
— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) October 21, 2024
But she wasn’t done there. Reeve went on to say, “I know all the headlines will be ‘Reeve cries foul.’ Bring it on. Right? Bring it on. Because this s**t was stolen from us. Bring it on”.
Cheryl Reeve: “This shit was stolen from us” pic.twitter.com/7p2Ie5vEsz
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) October 21, 2024
Whether Reeve was right about the stolen part is open to interpretation, and judging by many of the reactions, plenty of fans tend to agree. But she is definitely correct about the headlines bit, as the losing coach is about to dominate those.
It is a feat made a bit easier since the Liberty’s stars did not have banner nights in the win, with Sabrina Ionescu setting a record for shooting futility in the victory. But of course that won’t be the story, nor will it be the performance of WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones.
Instead it will be what Reeve said and the call made by the referees.
In a way it is fitting that a WNBA season worthy of so much celebration would end with controversy, as amid the growth in ratings and attendance there has always been some drama.
In this case it will be the words uttered after the trophy was presented. Though they won’t replace a championship, Reeve did succeed in one thing: Stealing something back, the headlines from the Liberty.
