WNBA playoffs: With Napheesa Collier’s status in doubt, Lynx left reeling as they face pivotal Game 4 vs. Mercury

PHOENIX — With less than 30 seconds left in Game 3 of the semifinal between the Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx, Alyssa Thomas swiped the ball from a driving Napheesa Collier and streaked down the other end of the court to score two. The Lynx’s MVP candidate was left in a heap on the other end of the court, while the play sealed the 84-76 win for Phoenix. The Mercury now have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, and that sequence of events could have much bigger consequences on the 2025 WNBA postseason.

When Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve saw Collier down on the court, she became apoplectic. Reeve was quickly given a technical — her second of the game — and ejected, but she wasn’t leaving quietly. Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman and two members of the coaching staff had to pull Reeve off the court.

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After the game, Reeve walked into her required media availability and didn’t take any questions. Instead, she spoke about the problems with officiating and then walked out.

“You’re hearing from other coaches. You’re hearing [Aces coach Becky Hammon] talk about when you let the physicality happen, people get hurt, there’s fights, and this is the look that our league wants for some reason,” Reeve said. “We’re trying to play through it. We’re trying to make excuses. One of the best players in the league shot zero free throws, zero, and she had five fouls, zero free throws, got her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out and probably has a fracture.”

Collier, who was second in MVP voting this season, finished the game with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 fouls. She played 36 minutes and didn’t make it to the free-throw line once. On the play at the end of the game, it appears she rolled her leg over Thomas as her ankle bent awkwardly. Thomas was not assessed a foul.

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Just a couple of minutes earlier, Phoenix’s Satou Sabally and Minnesota’s Bridget Carleton exchanged words after a foul call and were nose-to-nose before Carleton slammed her chest into Sabally. Carleton was called for a foul, which Reeve challenged, and the call was overturned.

“And so this is what our league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level,” Reeve said. “When it comes to officiating, it’s bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy, is f***ing malpractice.”

Repercussions from those final 30 seconds will likely be much bigger than one game or even one playoff series. Reeve is the longest tenured and one of the most successful coaches in WNBA history. Her words carry weight. Calling for a change in leadership for officials and swearing several times on live television with the league’s most important partner isn’t something the league will take lightly. It’s likely she will be fined more than the requisite amount for two technicals and an ejection.

Reeve isn’t alone in calling for changes. Both Hammon, the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, and Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White have brought up the problems in officiating in their semifinal, and it’s been a topic of discussion all season long.

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But the changes Reeve is calling for won’t happen overnight, if at all. In less than 48 hours, the Lynx will be fighting for their playoff lives in Game 4, with or without Collier, who used a scooter to get to the locker room after the game. The Lynx’s top scorer missed 11 games late in the regular season because of an ankle injury, though the team mostly managed to keep stacking wins in her absence.

Collier is not just one of the league’s best players. She’s the heart of this Lynx team. Drafted No. 6 overall in 2019 out of UConn, she’s been the key to Minnesota’s return to the top of the league, including last year’s Finals berth. While Minnesota has not announced her status for Game 4, Reeve mentioning a potential fracture is bad news.

Although officiating did have a large effect on the game, it was not the only reason Phoenix won. The Mercury had a 37-29 rebounding advantage, leading to Phoenix scoring 42 points in the paint to Minnesota’s 28.

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Thomas, who finished third in MVP voting, had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Sabally added a game-high 23 points. In front of a hyped home crowd, Thomas stayed even-keeled and focused, drawing on her 52 games of postseason experience.

“I was in a similar situation last year playing in the semis, but you know, we’re a composed team, you know, we’re locked in, we’re focused and we do our thing,” said Thomas, whose Connecticut Sun fell to the Lynx in last year’s semifinals. “So, you know, we just got to control what we can control, and that’s ourselves, and that’s what we do up there.”

In the first two games of this semifinal series in Minnesota, one team built an early lead, while the other came back to win. Now, Phoenix is in the driver’s seat heading into Sunday night’s Game 4. The Mercury will have the chance to close out the series and head to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.