Lynx's Reeve suspended after blasting officiating

PHOENIX -- Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was suspended one game due to her "conduct and comments" during and after Minnesota's 84-76 Game 3 loss to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA semifinals, the league said Saturday.

Reeve will serve the suspension during Sunday's Game 4 in Phoenix, where the Lynx -- trailing in the series 2-1 -- face elimination.

Reeve was ejected in the final seconds of Friday's game after Lynx forward Napheesa Collier's left leg made contact with Mercury guard Alyssa Thomas as Thomas went for a steal, leaving Collier on the floor in pain and grabbing at her right ankle. No foul was called on the play.

After Thomas scored, Reeve had to be restrained as she ran onto the court to berate one of the officials. She continued to follow and yell at him as he tried to walk away. She was assessed her second technical of the game, leading to her ejection.

As she was escorted to the locker room, Reeve shouted at some fans at PHX Arena.

In a statement, the WNBA said Reeve's suspension stems from her "aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in a post-game press conference."

Associate head coach Eric Thibault also got a technical for yelling at the refs. Thibault was fined for his interaction with the officials, as was Reeve. Assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson was fined for a social media post on X that read, "Yeah, this happened! Take out one of the best players in the league because you have no control of the game!"

Though Collier landed hard on the court after the players collided, the National Basketball Referees Association posted a clip of the play on X with its description of why officials were correct not to call a foul.

"This is NOT a foul," the post read. "Thomas legally gets to the ball and knocks the ball loose prior to any contact. The leg to leg contact is incidental once the ball is clearly loose."

In her postgame news conference, Reeve did not take questions. Instead, she spoke for nearly two minutes about the officiating, saying it was "malpractice" to have this group of referees work a WNBA playoff semifinal game.

"If this is what the league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating," Reeve said. "The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinal-playoff worthy, it's f---ing malpractice."

Reeve said Collier's shoulder was yanked out of place and that Collier possibly suffered a fracture but did not elaborate on the possible injury. The Lynx ruled Collier out for Game 4 later Saturday with a left ankle injury.

There have been several complaints about WNBA officiating this season. Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon has voiced her issues with the physicality in the playoffs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.