Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Sep 30, 2025 11:44 pm Couple of things on all of this.

Lynx did not lose because of officiating, Mercury were the better team, I bet on the Mercury to win the title back in July at 16-1 and loving my chances. (I watch more league wide WNBA than I do NBA).

This was a two year build up, from phee getting hit in the head late in the WNBA finals last year with no call, to Breanna Stewart taking 6 steps and then getting a touch foul on the last possession of the WNBA finals last year. Then Cathy wearing a New York city skyline dress and the first thing she says is "the title is back where it belongs" right after a super controversial game 5 last year.

Teams have been complaining about officiating all season, not just the lynx and every team has been complaining after wins and losses. The physicality of the league is so high that injuries are up across the board. Including the injuries tonight the Fever were missing 7 of their 12 rostered players and are using 2 hardship players. The Dallas Wings and were struggling to field a roster this year because of the injuries and almost had to forfeit a game because they only had 6 healthy players. Lynx were missing 3 rotation piece and there are a ton more examples across the league.

Was Cheryl over the top, yep, did she deserve 6x times higher fine higher than any person in WNBA history, maybe, did she deserve to get suspended for an elimination game, debatable. However that is Cheryl, she has always done this, this is not like Pop she has been popping off during games for years. But she will always have here players backs and that is why players say that Cheryl is the greatest coach they have ever had. That is why multiple former players on are the coaching staff. That is why Cheryl has been the Lynx coach for 16 years and the rest of the WNBA teams combined with their current team is 13 years combined.

I know the NBA referees said it was not a foul but then there are multiple examples that have came out of NBA referees calling that a foul with a clean strip and players running into the body similar to what AT did, including a play involving Ant last year and the foul was called on Ant in a similar situation. So are NBA referees calling the play wrong, idk but they are calling it a foul in NBA games even though their tweet says other wise.

With Cathy, the players hate her, former players like Ellena Della Done have came out and said Cathy did not congratulate her on her retirement but every other high ranking official has, similar stories have come out about players injuries that other people reach out but never Cathy. Cathy increase games for the WNBA players but their pay did not increase this year. Cathy said the coach of the years name wrong when presenting the award to her. Cathy was trying to save face by getting drunk over all star weekend and dancing with the players. If what Phee said is true, she is not a leader at all.

Also I am super proud of Phee today. She is a league founder in Unrivaled, she is college educated, her grandfather got Sierra Leon their independence from Great Britain, she grew up with role models from the same town in Maya Moore who retired early to get a innocent man free. This message would not be effective by a no name players, this is the 2nd best player in the league saying these world. She is risking a ton of money with her statement but she is sticking up for the league that wants change. I have zero issue with what phee has said.

In every major sports league you can see reffing stats and how good they are, you can not in the WNBA. Every team has said the league is too physical and players are getting injuries and instead of changing or taking that into consideration the commish calls them "losers"

I will be shocked if there is not a lockout next year, but I will not blame the players for trying to get money when the WNBA is at an all time high. The attendance for G4 of Fever vs Aces was 20,366, if the average ticket was 50$ the league made 1.1 million from the game. Each teams salary cap is 1.5 million for the year.

I love the WNBA, so many different styles of play, so many personalities, so many great players with players that stay in college and you get to know the players before they play in the WNBA. Great team basketball, its time for a change at the top because Cathy does not have the backing from the coaches, to the players to the fans. NBA changed physicality rules in the mid 2000s that is all the Phee asked for today.

Mercury deserved to win the series but for the betterment of the league things need to change.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Oct 01, 2025 8:31 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Sep 30, 2025 11:44 pm Couple of things on all of this.

Lynx did not lose because of officiating, Mercury were the better team, I bet on the Mercury to win the title back in July at 16-1 and loving my chances. (I watch more league wide WNBA than I do NBA).

This was a two year build up, from phee getting hit in the head late in the WNBA finals last year with no call, to Breanna Stewart taking 6 steps and then getting a touch foul on the last possession of the WNBA finals last year. Then Cathy wearing a New York city skyline dress and the first thing she says is "the title is back where it belongs" right after a super controversial game 5 last year.

Teams have been complaining about officiating all season, not just the lynx and every team has been complaining after wins and losses. The physicality of the league is so high that injuries are up across the board. Including the injuries tonight the Fever were missing 7 of their 12 rostered players and are using 2 hardship players. The Dallas Wings and were struggling to field a roster this year because of the injuries and almost had to forfeit a game because they only had 6 healthy players. Lynx were missing 3 rotation piece and there are a ton more examples across the league.

Was Cheryl over the top, yep, did she deserve 6x times higher fine higher than any person in WNBA history, maybe, did she deserve to get suspended for an elimination game, debatable. However that is Cheryl, she has always done this, this is not like Pop she has been popping off during games for years. But she will always have here players backs and that is why players say that Cheryl is the greatest coach they have ever had. That is why multiple former players on are the coaching staff. That is why Cheryl has been the Lynx coach for 16 years and the rest of the WNBA teams combined with their current team is 13 years combined.

I know the NBA referees said it was not a foul but then there are multiple examples that have came out of NBA referees calling that a foul with a clean strip and players running into the body similar to what AT did, including a play involving Ant last year and the foul was called on Ant in a similar situation. So are NBA referees calling the play wrong, idk but they are calling it a foul in NBA games even though their tweet says other wise.

With Cathy, the players hate her, former players like Ellena Della Done have came out and said Cathy did not congratulate her on her retirement but every other high ranking official has, similar stories have come out about players injuries that other people reach out but never Cathy. Cathy increase games for the WNBA players but their pay did not increase this year. Cathy said the coach of the years name wrong when presenting the award to her. Cathy was trying to save face by getting drunk over all star weekend and dancing with the players. If what Phee said is true, she is not a leader at all.

Also I am super proud of Phee today. She is a league founder in Unrivaled, she is college educated, her grandfather got Sierra Leon their independence from Great Britain, she grew up with role models from the same town in Maya Moore who retired early to get a innocent man free. This message would not be effective by a no name players, this is the 2nd best player in the league saying these world. She is risking a ton of money with her statement but she is sticking up for the league that wants change. I have zero issue with what phee has said.

In every major sports league you can see reffing stats and how good they are, you can not in the WNBA. Every team has said the league is too physical and players are getting injuries and instead of changing or taking that into consideration the commish calls them "losers"

I will be shocked if there is not a lockout next year, but I will not blame the players for trying to get money when the WNBA is at an all time high. The attendance for G4 of Fever vs Aces was 20,366, if the average ticket was 50$ the league made 1.1 million from the game. Each teams salary cap is 1.5 million for the year.

I love the WNBA, so many different styles of play, so many personalities, so many great players with players that stay in college and you get to know the players before they play in the WNBA. Great team basketball, its time for a change at the top because Cathy does not have the backing from the coaches, to the players to the fans. NBA changed physicality rules in the mid 2000s that is all the Phee asked for today.

Mercury deserved to win the series but for the betterment of the league things need to change.

That's good insight Kekgeek. My reaction was indeed more of a knee-jerk one, and regardless of whether Phee was cherry-picking and massaging bits from her conversation with Engelbert for maximum effect, it sounds like there are multiple other data points that indicate a leadership issue.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:59 am Kek alluded to this and I agree. Cheryl's outburst was a year in the making. When you get cheated out of a championship as the Lynx did, it stays with you. Especially when it seemed like the league was behind it. Then you breeze through a regular season and look like you're goin to avenge the injustice of the prior year, only to see it vanish. Cheryl has done a great job during her tenure, but I'm not a huge fan. I feel she has left more than one championship on the table, even though she has won big, this year included. But I respect how much she cares. I wish some other coaches in Minnesota had the same fire and would be willing to speak up when things aren't right. Where was the outrage from Brad Childress when the Vikings were hosed in New Orleans? I guess the bottom line is I can understand why Cheryl was a powder keg ready to explode.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 10:14 am

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:59 am Kek alluded to this and I agree. Cheryl's outburst was a year in the making. When you get cheated out of a championship as the Lynx did, it stays with you. Especially when it seemed like the league was behind it. Then you breeze through a regular season and look like you're goin to avenge the injustice of the prior year, only to see it vanish. Cheryl has done a great job during her tenure, but I'm not a huge fan. I feel she has left more than one championship on the table, even though she has won big, this year included. But I respect how much she cares. I wish some other coaches in Minnesota had the same fire and would be willing to speak up when things aren't right. Where was the outrage from Brad Childress when the Vikings were hosed in New Orleans? I guess the bottom line is I can understand why Cheryl was a powder keg ready to explode.

I agree everything you said also last year wasn’t the first time Cheryl thought a title was taken away from them. The Lynx would have another title if they called a shot clock violation correct vs the sparks.

Cheryl has her faults, they have not drafted a good player since the Phee and Sheppard draft. I think she can be like thibs sometimes and not play the bench when wear players out.

But she consistently gets a lot out of her teams. Courtney Williams was a bottom tier SG and turned her into an all star level PG, Carlton became one of the best 3 and D players, Phee was a mid first round pick and became an MVP candidate (rare in the WNBA) and Alanna was almost out of the league and now won DPOY.


Love her or hate her Cheryl is who she is will stick up for what she believes in and will always stick up for her players

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Oct 06, 2025 2:43 pm A bit late... but...

1) Reeve was unhinged. Not a great look. And any suspension or fine was warranted. Possibly tellingly though... two other prominent coaches in the WNBA Semi-Finals were fined for agreeing with her about her pointed comments toward the officiating.

2) Reeve's outburst was about the Thomas/Collier play... but also... SO MUCH more as mentioned here from others. From the '24 Finals ridiculousness to the season-long complaints to several plays earlier in the game in question.

3) I mentioned it earlier in the thread... Englebert has acted like the WNBA is a fringe league for quite some time. And that's why it's been considered such... and possibly why she's the one pushing back on its newfound popularity. It's a very odd look from the commissioner. And so very tone-deaf. Clark inked her $16M deal BEFORE she entered the WNBA.

4) The officials from the game in question were roundly and almost universally ripped for how they called that entire game when Collier was injured and Reeve went crazy. Yet... in yet another misguided move, they were among the few officials assigned to the WNBA Finals. There was no accountability in WNBA officiating swinging a title last year. And none this year. That's a terrible look.

5) It's interesting where the NBA is during all this. Obviously, the two leagues remain closely connected, with more NBA owners taking ownership of WNBA teams too. Outside of the very odd (and defensive) Twitter post about it being the "correct call." I mean, we're mere weeks away from yet another NBA season where we will be wondering online just how inept these officials are. They have similarly stood true to bad calls of their own in the past, including the infamous "incidental contact" on SGA holding Edwards' arm on a dunk. And countless others.

6) I don't see (m)any reasons not to believe Collier. Those are pretty crazy things to make up. Meanwhile, Engelbert's career is at stake if she said them... so a denial is one of her only options. I know we live in an era where it's now an effective strategy to obscure the truth in many ways, but sometimes, it's pretty easy to see through it.

I have not heard a single dissenting voice/opinion from Collier's since she brought up these issues. And that screams that it's almost a universally agreed-upon topic. Heck, Collier mentioned it in the presser... that she's tried repeatedly to do this stuff behind closed doors. And it fell on deaf ears. So F it. Go scorched earth. Finally, the league got the attention that it's players think they deserve.