Nakase calls out officiating after Valkyries lose big in Game 1

MINNEAPOLIS — Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase made a plea for the league’s officials to give her team a “fair fight” and a “clean fight” following a lopsided, 101-72 loss against the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of their opening round playoff series on Sunday.

The Valkyries led 28-21 at the end of the first quarter, the result of a strong defensive effort (Minnesota missed 12 of 20 field goal attempts) and slick shooting (Golden State was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc). Then, the Lynx — the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and the team with the best offensive and defensive ratings in the WNBA — shook off its slow start to dominate the rest of the game.

But Nakase, who was given a technical foul for arguing a call in the second half, said the fouls impacted her team’s ability to sustain its momentum after a strong first quarter.

“When Iliana Rupert (three fouls) is trying to fight for the rebound and she’s getting called for a foul on a rebound, it takes our aggression away and that’s where I’m not okay with it,” she said. “I want a fair fight. I really do. I want a clean fight, but I love the fact that both teams are playing their hearts out. They’re fighting. But I would like it to be fair.

“And for me, that’s why I got a [technical foul] because at what point is it going to be fair?”

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Nakase added that the Lynx’s status as the best team in the WNBA means it doesn’t need a boost through officiating.

“We’re playing the number one team,” she said. “We’re playing the best team in the league. They don’t need no help. This team is great. They’re stacked. They play well. They play beautiful basketball. They’re coached well. They don’t need the help.”

The Lynx ended the game with 23 team fouls and 24 free throw attempts and the Valkyries finished with 22 team fouls and 27 free throw attempts. But the Lynx had 11 free throw attempts in the second quarter — when Minnesota outscored Golden State 26-12 — and the Valkyries had one.

Prior to the game, Nakase had expressed concerns about officiating in this series.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said something “changed” with the officiating at halftime. She said one of the officials on the crew told her that they’d met and decided to make the “obvious” foul calls the rest of the way. But the officiating — the Lynx finished with 15 fouls in the second half compared to Golden State’s 11 — didn’t decide the game, she said.

“I have to go back and look at the video because again, both teams are physical,” she said after the game. “Do you get called for every foul? No. I mean, that’s not possible for them either. So I mean, I understand it, but it’s the playoffs and obviously, we fouled a lot at the end, but I didn’t think that was a factor in the game though.”

Lynx standout Natisha Hiedeman’s 18 points (career-high) and plus-32 plus-minus rating was the second-highest in Lynx postseason history, according to ESPN Research. She helped the Lynx regain their edge after a lackluster first quarter. Over the last three quarters of the game, the Lynx outscored the Valkyries 80-44. The team also hit 42 percent of its 3-point attempts and MVP candidate Napheesa Collier finished with 20 points and six rebounds.

Golden State, one of the best defensive teams in the WNBA, finished 5-for-8 from the 3-point line in the first quarter and then 5-for-23 from beyond the arc the rest of the game. Still, Nakase said her team’s momentum was impacted by the way the game was called.

Before her team heads back to the West Coast for Game 2 on Wednesday in San Jose and not the Chase Center due to a scheduling conflict, those comments could draw the attention of the league and lead to a possible fine for the head coach who made history as the leader of the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs in its first season.

Nakase said she’s not concerned.

“I don’t care about that,” she said. “I’ve got players and I’ve got to make sure that they’re good mentally and physically. I’ve got to make sure they’re doing everything they can to recover. I’ve got to keep their minds right. I’ve got to keep their minds tight. I’ve got to make sure we’re all connected. That’s where my main thing is.”