The WNBA season came to an end Oct. 21 with the New York Liberty claiming their first championship after defeating the Minnesota Lynx three games to two.
The final game was decided in overtime, with the Liberty winning 67-62. The game was an underwhelming conclusion to an otherwise great series, as both teams shot under 40%.
As a fan of Minnesota basketball, I was rooting for the Lynx to win before they ultimately fell short in game five. While this capped off a remarkable season for the Liberty and the rest of the WNBA, I can’t help but feel that New York winning the championship was unjust.
The main reason I say this is because the Liberty should not have won that game. New York played awful, the team shot just 30% from the field and went 2-23 from 3 point range. Sabrina Ionescu, arguably their best player, made just one of 19 shots the entire game.
It’s not like the Lynx played much better—they also struggled to shoot, only making 37% of their shots. However, it was nowhere close to the—for the lack of a better word—embarrassing performance from New York.
So how on Earth did the Liberty come out on top with the championship?
Well, they had a ton of help from the referees. New York was gifted a whopping 25 free throws, as opposed to the Lynx’s eight. Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello was even caught on a hot mic in the final minutes of the game telling her players; “If they foul you, embellish it.”
New York certainly did just that in the final minute of the game—as the Lynx were called for three fouls. The second of those fouls came with the Lynx leading by two with 38 seconds left on the clock. Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, a familiar face for many Seattle Storm fans, then stepped up to the free throw line with an opportunity to tie the game.
She missed both free throws.
Just 30 seconds later, with the Lynx still leading by two points, the most frustrating foul call of the night occurred. With six seconds to go, New York inbounded the ball and put it in Stewart’s hands. After appearing to travel (to no foul called), Stewart shot the ball, missed and was awarded with two free throws.
Except this call was different—Stewart wasn’t touched at all before the foul was called. In no way should the whistle have been blown. After nailing both free throws, Stewart sent the game to overtime where the Liberty eventually finished off the Lynx.
In the words of the great Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve;
“This shit was stolen from us.”
This was one of the most disappointing games of basketball I have ever seen. It felt like the league wanted New York to win. Why else would the Liberty have been bailed out so many times? Something doesn’t seem right—perhaps it was the fact that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert wore a dress with the New York City skyline to the game?
While I don’t mean to accuse the WNBA of rigging the title, it does feel unfair that the Liberty were given so many opportunities to win the game while the Lynx were not. Engelbert’s dress, regardless of intention, left many fans questioning whether or not the league favored New York to win.
A fair game could have been the perfect finishing touch on arguably the best season in WNBA history. The league saw the emergence of an entertaining rookie class that featured Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink. The record for the highest-attended WNBA game was shattered in September. Most importantly, the league saw groundbreaking viewership—a sign that the WNBA is headed to a bright future.
But in the end, we got a championship that came down to poor officiating. Was it wrong to ask for a great game to end a great season?
