The WNBA suspended Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve for one sport after she criticized the officiating and failed to go away the court docket after being ejected within the Lynx’s 84-76 loss to the Phoenix Mercury in Recreation 3 of the WNBA semifinals.
Reeve will sit out Recreation 4 in opposition to Phoenix on Sunday. The WNBA mentioned Reeve’s suspension was for “conduct and feedback included aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a sport official on the court docket, failure to go away the court docket in a well timed method.”
The Mercury lead the best-of-five collection two video games to 1 and would advance to the WNBA Finals with a victory.
Reeve was tossed from the sport with 21.8 seconds remaining within the fourth quarter after Mercury guard Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from Lynx ahead Napheesa Collier and scored with a layup, successfully ending the sport.
No foul was referred to as on the play, and Collier limped off to the bench. Reeve later mentioned that Collier most likely suffered a fracture to her leg, however there was no replace on her standing for Recreation 4.
Reeve instantly went after the officers and needed to be restrained by her assistant coaches and Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman.
“If that is what the league desires, OK, however I need to name for a change of management on the league degree on the subject of officiating,” Reeve mentioned after the sport. “The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the management to deem these three folks semifinal-playoff worthy, it is f—ing malpractice.”
The league additionally mentioned Reeve and Lynx assistant coaches Eric Thibault and Rebekkah Brunson had been fined. Thibault was fined for his inappropriate interplay with an official on the court docket, and Brunson was fined for an inappropriate social media remark directed at WNBA officers.