'This s--- was stolen from us:' Coach Reeve rips refs after devastating Lynx loss

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: The Lynx quest to win another WNBA championship ended on the hardwood court of Barclays Center in New York City in overtime last night. Lynx lost to the Liberty 67-62. The game went into overtime on a questionable call, and Coach Cheryl Reeve ripped the refs for it.

CHERYL REEVE: I know all the headlines will be Reeve cries foul. Bring it on. Bring it on. Because this [BLEEP] was stolen from us. Bring it on.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Harsh words there. Here to break them down and the whole postseason for the Lynx is LaVelle Neal, a sports columnist for The Star Tribune. Hey, LaVelle. It's great to hear your voice.

LAVELLE NEAL: It's great to hear your voice, too, Cathy. It's been too long.

CATHY WURZER: I know, right? Well, let us start by talking about what happened with that call. I mean, it was a contested foul call, right? So let's break it down for folks who are not watching carefully. The Lynx challenged the call, but they were kind of shut down.

LAVELLE NEAL: Yes, they were. I mean, you have the right to challenge calls. Although I don't think in the last situations, the league wants to overturn calls once the referees make them. But in that case, I think the Lynx were incredibly justified. Just the fact that the actions of Stuart to traveling and not having the travel called.

And then the replay clearly showed that the Lynx defender, Alanna Smith, had ball. There was no body contact. If there was, it was caused by Stuart coming into Smith and knocking her backwards as she tried to block the shot. So there's just a lot of things going wrong with that play that was very troubling, especially at that point of the game.

And the other thing too, Cathy, is that the WNBA is a physical League. There's a lot of bumping, a lot of collisions. And this NBA Finals series was extremely physical on both sides because New York Liberty have bigger players, have taller players on their front line, and they want to use that to the advantage. And the Lynx did their best to play through that. So they took some shots. They took some blows.

You saw the Lynx center get knocked out and suffered a back injury in game 3 and then fought through game 4 and then fought through game 5 yesterday. So for that type of call to be made in a league in which physical play I don't want to say is encouraged but allowed in a series in which it definitely was allowed, all of a sudden to come up with a call along those lines was really troubling for Lynx fans.

CATHY WURZER: Man, have you ever seen-- this really resonated with a lot of people who were watching. I mean, even NBA players were weighing in, LeBron James. Cheryl Reeve said after the game last night that it decided the game. What did you think of the uproar over it? And then I'll ask you some more questions after that.

LAVELLE NEAL: I think the uproar was fabulous. There was a lot of replies on social media from all walks of the sports world, former players, couple current players, Major League Baseball players, LeBron James. Everybody was weighing in and that. What does that tell you? It tells you that everybody was watching the game.

I haven't seen what the ratings numbers are yet, but it probably was the most watched game of any game in the finals. And they already, through the first two games of the series, ratings were up 82%. So I'm imagining that yesterday should probably have been a record viewing crowd. So the league has eyes on it now. And this is great for the advancement of the league. It shows what happens when you invest into the league and give them the support they need.

Now, on the flip side of that, the league did lose $40 million this year, and that's going to have to be taken care of going forward. But the WNBA is on everybody's mind. It's at the breakfast table when you're talking about what you watched last night. It's at the water cooler in the office. It just shows the interest in the league, and especially when you have that degree of reaction to a controversial call.

CATHY WURZER: And I have to say, the front page of the sports section this morning, your paper, not too long ago, it wouldn't have happened to have been leading with the Lynx. And they kicked the Vikings off the front page of the sports section. So that really does say a lot about where pro women sports are now.

LAVELLE NEAL: Yeah. You can see the media attention. I'm sitting in packed media conference rooms, during the Lynx last three playoff series because of the interest. And national media showing up. The Lynx put themselves on the map this year. Since they didn't do well last year, no one expected them to finish as the second best team in the league, but they opened up a lot of eyes.

But the league is going to have to move forward and deal with the refereeing issue that came up during the series. I also thought it was a terrible, terrible look for Cathy Engelbrekt, the WNBA commissioner, to appear at the award ceremony wearing a dress that had the New York skyline on it. I just thought that was just a bad decision there.

It suggested a little partiality going on from the league office that they want the number one market with the most eyes on it to win a series over a team that has basically set the gold standard of excellence in the WNBA in the four-time champion, Minnesota Lynx. So I got problems with the commissioner for her choice of outfit for-- or as the kids say, fit-- her fit for Sunday's game.

CATHY WURZER: Right? So I wonder then, getting back to the officiating, because Cheryl Reeve thought that call decided the game, and she was saying that, really, the win was stolen from the Lynx by the refs. Do you think she could be fined for putting so much blame on the refs like that? I mean, would there be any sort of governing body who could weigh in on this?

LAVELLE NEAL: I don't see it because both the Lynx coach and the New York Liberty coach had complained about the officials extensively during the series with the Liberty coach actually happened to be-- hers was expletive-filled worse than Cheryl's after yesterday's game. She complained after game four and before game four. And it kind of served her well.

There's been complaining from the coaches going on throughout the series. I don't think it's that bad. And plus, Cheryl Reeve, she's like royalty in the WNBA for everything she's done and achieved. I don't see them fining her or wrapping her around the knuckles for saying what's on her mind.

And she actually came up with a constructive solution about having a third party at the arena to independently look at some of these plays and rule on them and help officials save officials from themselves. So I think when Cheryl Reeve says something, her history, her experience just makes people listen.

CATHY WURZER: So before you go, I'm curious as to what you might be looking for next season with the Lynx. I mean, we just finished this season, but if you're going to look ahead, what are you thinking about?

LAVELLE NEAL: It's a terrific team that plays defense. They keep using the word the collective. And they're a very well-connected team. They play with each other. They play for each other. They do a great job of-- their best player is Napheesa Collier. They do a great job of recognizing when she has favorable matchups and she immediately gets the ball.

She's also good at knowing that when she's being defenced a certain way that it's time to get her players, her teammates involved. So it's really a yin and yang that goes on with them that's really cool to see. If anything, they probably need some depth. They definitely need some front line help.

But I believe they're at the top, I think, of the WNBA salary cap. So I don't know, from a financial standpoint, if they can go out and sign an impact-free agent unless they could trade for one or figure out a way to bring in some more talent. But with Collier in the prime of her career, having ascended into WNBA stardom and Kayla McBride, a very competent scorer, this team looks like it could be a force for the next few years.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. All right. LaVelle, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

LAVELLE NEAL: Thanks a lot, Cathy. Enjoy this great, glorious day we're having.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, you too. Thank you. That's Star Tribune's sports columnist, LaVelle Neal.