“We haven’t talked about the officiating all playoffs. We just play and we’re worried about us,” said Mercury’s head coach, Nate Tibbetts. Call that being diplomatic, and whatnot, but Cheryl Reeve is definitely on the opposite end of the seesaw. In case the thought of referee calls and controversies reducing during the playoffs crossed your mind, you’d be very, very far from reality. The furnace continues.

The moment that changed everything came when Lynx star Napheesa Collier drove from the top of the key. Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas swooped in for the steal but, in the process, made ‘noticeable contact’ with Collier’s leg. The latter fell, twisted her left ankle, and had to be helped off the court, clearly in pain, and no foul was called! That injury led to her eventual exclusion from Game

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