2024 WNBA PLAYOFFS Discussion Thread (WNBA Finals: New York Liberty vs Minnesota Lynx; NYL WIN 3-2)

[IlikeSHAIguys]

Read on Twitter

Wowzers

[The Corey's]

Read on Twitter

Wowzers

Free throws 25 to 8 in game 5 with the title in the line in favor of New York AFTER they complained about wanting FAIR officiating last game.

I don't know about you but id be pretty heated to lose a championship cause there was a 17 FT disadvantage.

[jc23]

congrats to the Liberty fans and numero uno fano "half man-half all of realgm wnba posts" mcdollarbills. Lynx fans it was a good season and i thought of all the teams in the league the Lynx had the most appealing style of play.

Officiating is another area where the league can improve. no fan or team would disagree.

[tmorgan]

I see it this way:

The best team won, but the team that played the best, with the best player, didn’t. Felt a little sketchy, but not enough to diminish my enthusiasm for a great Finals.

[Green Chile]

Wow I didn’t think I’d be this bummed thinking I won’t have wnba games for a while

Same.

Pretty excited to watch the college season/draft prospects though. The true year-round nature seems like it could be fun.

[MrDollarBills]

Read on Twitter

Wowzers

Free throws 25 to 8 in game 5 with the title in the line in favor of New York AFTER they complained about wanting FAIR officiating last game.

I don't know about you but id be pretty heated to lose a championship cause there was a 17 FT disadvantage.

Go look at the box score for Game 4 and the FT disparity. This goes both ways.

The officiating absolutely sucks and I notice that the disparity in the final two games of the series swung wildly in the home teams direction after each coach complained about officiating. I think that's a serious problem that the league needs to address ASAP.

I'm going to be objective here because I thought Stewie got bailed out. But I will say this:

1) While i agree with her frustration, Reeves came off as classless when she went from attacking the officials to attacking the Liberty personally. What does the Liberty trying to get chartered flights have to do with the final outcome? She lost me there.

2) The Lynx committed 5 TOs in OT and couldn't score.

[Green Chile]

On the officiating, obviously it wasn't perfect. And really, anybody that isn't irritated with the officiating in any sports league probably just isn't paying attention (ask any non-Chiefs fan about the end of most Chiefs games).

But for last night, a big part of the FT discrepancy was just that Minnesota was far more aggressive defensively than NY was.

Their defense was absolutely swarming. In the 1st quarter and a half, they seemed to have a lot of steals could have easily been fouls/reach-ins.

It sucks to be penalized for playing great defense, but there's a razor thin line between great defense and fouling.
The Lynx were forcing a judgement call from an official on nearly every possession.

It's tough. I love both teams, but wouldn't have minded seeing Phee, Alanna and the bunch popping champagne.

But the officiating does not overshadow or tarnish a great series and victory for the Liberty.

[nick p]

it’s a good thing James Dolan did sell the Liberty

[KembaWalker]

The W is blatantly either corrupt or incompetent. Maybe both. Take your pick

Egregious

[Sealab2024]

Refs sucked but The Lynx scored 2 points in OT and Phee had an open shot to ice it with like 7 seconds left in regulation and missed the shot. Courtney Williams was terrible, the lynx had no answer to jonquel and there was no scoring off the bench... That is why the Lynx lost.

Again congratulations to The Liberty. Lynx took em the entire way and made them earn it, which they did.

[Ice Man]

I don't think I've ever seen such a physical basketball game. Dirtier, yes. But ongoing body on body, with defenders impeding offensive players ... nah. Even 25 feet from the basket, the defenders were bumping the dribblers off balance any time they tried to move north-south. Getting a slight edge, as Sabrina can do, was simply not enough, because the defender would take back the space with a shoulder. The only way to get by an opponent was to absolutely torch her, as McBride repeatedly did to her defenders with crossovers.

Look, here's 58 minutes of highlights of the '89 Bulls - Pistons series. The fabled Bad Boys. They conceded A LOT more space to perimeter attackers than either the Lynx or Liberty did last night.

Watch on YouTube

[MrDollarBills]

Refs sucked but The Lynx scored 2 points in OT and Phee had an open shot to ice it with like 7 seconds left in regulation and missed the shot. Courtney Williams was terrible, the lynx had no answer to jonquel and there was no scoring off the bench... That is why the Lynx lost.

Again congratulations to The Liberty. Lynx took em the entire way and made them earn it, which they did.

Every game was a battle. The refs absolutely sucked but both teams laid out everything that they had.

Great series. Minnesota probably won't be denied again, that I can assure you.

[IlikeSHAIguys]

Wowzers

Free throws 25 to 8 in game 5 with the title in the line in favor of New York AFTER they complained about wanting FAIR officiating last game.

I don't know about you but id be pretty heated to lose a championship cause there was a 17 FT disadvantage.

Go look at the box score for Game 4 and the FT disparity. This goes both ways.

The officiating absolutely sucks and I notice that the disparity in the final two games of the series swung wildly in the home teams direction after each coach complained about officiating. I think that's a serious problem that the league needs to address ASAP.

I'm going to be objective here because I thought Stewie got bailed out. But I will say this:

1) While i agree with her frustration, Reeves came off as classless when she went from attacking the officials to attacking the Liberty personally. What does the Liberty trying to get chartered flights have to do with the final outcome? She lost me there.

2) The Lynx committed 5 TOs in OT and couldn't score.

Lynx probably score more if Liberty aren't just being allowed to do whatever every play at the end honestly.

[MrDollarBills]

Watch on YouTube

[Ice Man]

If "just let them play" is always the right answer for refereeing big games, then we wouldn't need referees on the court. That game crossed the line. I loved the intensity, but the ongoing fouling that wasn't called changed the nature of the competition. There are reasons why neither of the best teams in the league could score even 70 points in 45 minutes, and 1) great team defense (which both teams did play) and 2) choking (also true) were not the only two reasons. The choices made by the referees were an important third reason.

I can only imagine the Internet if this had been the Fever in Game 5 and Clark had been womanhandled the way that Sabrina was! Sheesh.

[MrDollarBills]

Free throws 25 to 8 in game 5 with the title in the line in favor of New York AFTER they complained about wanting FAIR officiating last game.

I don't know about you but id be pretty heated to lose a championship cause there was a 17 FT disadvantage.

Go look at the box score for Game 4 and the FT disparity. This goes both ways.

The officiating absolutely sucks and I notice that the disparity in the final two games of the series swung wildly in the home teams direction after each coach complained about officiating. I think that's a serious problem that the league needs to address ASAP.

I'm going to be objective here because I thought Stewie got bailed out. But I will say this:

1) While i agree with her frustration, Reeves came off as classless when she went from attacking the officials to attacking the Liberty personally. What does the Liberty trying to get chartered flights have to do with the final outcome? She lost me there.

2) The Lynx committed 5 TOs in OT and couldn't score.

Lynx probably score more if Liberty aren't just being allowed to do whatever every play at the end honestly.

Nah this isn't true.

Courtney Williams went 0-3 FG in OT, 1 TO. She was flat out terrible.

Hiedeman had two turnovers in OT.

McBride had a bad TO, missed her only shot attempt

Lynx had a 24 sec violation in OT

Collier's only FGA in OT got tossed by Sabally

Liberty got called for 3 personals in the final 2 mins, 4 fouls in total in OT. The Lynx didn't get any fouls called on them until the final 13 secs.

The bail out call on Stewie in Q4 was terrible but let's at least be honest here about how things played out.

[MrDollarBills]

If "just let them play" is always the right answer for refereeing big games, then we wouldn't need referees on the court. That game crossed the line. I loved the intensity, but the ongoing fouling that wasn't called changed the nature of the competition. There are reasons why neither of the best teams in the league could score even 70 points in 45 minutes, and 1) great team defense (which both teams did play) and 2) choking (also true) were not the only two reasons. The choices made by the referees were an important third reason.

I can only imagine the Internet if this had been the Fever in Game 5 and Clark had been womanhandled the way that Sabrina was! Sheesh.

I'm not even going to use the physicality as an excuse, Sabrina just did not have it but she made two critical passes and she had some defensive moments of her own in the 2nd half.

But yeah i can see what you mean. If CC got played that way it'd be a national outrage moment. Me personally if the refs are letting it get physical, so be it. I enjoyed the competition. But make sure it goes both ways.

[ArksNetsSince99]

I can't believe we won this game.

We ?

Since when you rooting for communist Tsai family and Co ?

I kindly remind you that Liberty is a part of Brooklyn Nets Family , got nothing to do with Dolans and the Knicks

[Rich Rane]

I can't believe we won this game.

We ?

Since when you rooting for communist Tsai family and Co ?

I kindly remind you that Liberty is a part of Brooklyn Nets Family , got nothing to do with Dolans and the Knicks

Don't gatekeep. I mean, yeah Dolan, but the league is growing and neither the league nor the Liberty need fanship purity tests.

[Green Chile]

All I know is a New York professional basketball team just won a title for the first time in a lot of people's lifetime.