On October 20th, the Minnesota Lynx were robbed of a WNBA Championship. The winner was ultimately decided by the referees with only 3.8 seconds left when they called a foul on what many would call marginal contact from the Lynx on a shot attempt by Breanna Stewart. Of course, the call was questionable, but even worse, when the Lynx attempted to challenge the call, they used a video clip as evidence that showed both marginal contact, and Breanna Stewart walking with the ball from the three point line to the free throw line. And no, this wasn’t some odd use of a gather step. Breanna Stewart caught the ball and took six steps before her first dribble. That’s a travel even in my 7 year old cousin’s YMCA league. The call on the Lynx for contact never should have happened, much less upheld. This injustice was a theme throughout the game. The New York Liberty took a total of 25 free throws compared to 8 for the Lynx.
Beyond the referees, even the ESPN broadcast was horrible. The bias towards New York was downright disrespectful to the women of Minnesota. A particularly memorable moment was when cameras captured the head coach of the Liberty telling her players to “embellish” “contact” and “flop.” ESPN immediately cut their audio feed and panned away.
Below are two images. The first is Napheesa Collier being “blocked cleanly” (the broadcast’s words) by a player for the Liberty. Next to it is the controversial foul call from the last few seconds of regulation. While the “clean block” on Collier was a clear swipe at the arms, the broadcasters found themselves stumbling over their words, claiming there was a shooting foul even when the screens in front of them clearly showed otherwise.
In the second image, Smith is (at worst) grazing the hand of Steward. I am going to be extremely clear here: per the WNBA rules, “the hand is considered ‘part of the ball’ when it is in contact with the ball.” I don’t know how in any world the first photo is a “normal basketball play”, and the second photo is not.
This past season had been great for the WNBA. Caitlin Clark was put in the spotlight after joining the league in a time when the WNBA was in desperate need of a new star. Countless new fans began to tune in to WNBA games over the summer, and it’s disappointing to have the first finals in this new era of popularity be so upsetting.
Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve put it best: “This s**t was stolen from us”
