06-18-2025, 03:37 PM
Some excerpts, aligning with Hieronymus' post.
"For the people who love the WNBA, the players who better have great health insurance just to work in this league, and for the league itself. Because the truth is, the basketball here is evolving, but the inadequate officiating is not.
That was evident during the skirmishes between Sun veteran Marina Mabrey and the Fever’s Caitlin Clark, which were followed by a late-game fight between Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon. Before all that, the referees swallowed their whistles too many times, missing too many shoves. As a result, Fever Coach Stephanie White delivered some blows of her own. On the night her team became the Eastern Conference representative in the Commissioner’s Cup final with an 88-71 win over the Sun, White let loose on officiating that is harming the game.
“Players are faster, they’re better, they’re bigger, they’re stronger,” White said. “Things are happening quickly. Everybody’s getting better, except the officials.”
“When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long … this is what happens,” White said. “You’ve got competitive women, who are the best in the world at what they do, right? And when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete.”
White had been sounding an alarm for weeks about “disrespectful” officiating. Tuesday night, there was no bias. Just blindness. How could the officiating trio not have noticed the clashes around the perimeter? The extra stuff happening inside? Or be aware of the potential for bitterness between Mabrey, a fierce competitor and a holdover from the Sun team that eliminated the Fever last year in the playoffs, and Clark, who had her rookie season run-ins with Connecticut?
It seems the refs still haven’t learned that it takes more than a long review — and a decision to essentially play on — to supervise the most physical basketball league in our land. Throughout this game — just like any game in the W, on any given night — the paint was no place for punks. In the first half, Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell got yanked down from behind. Later, another Fever guard, Lexie Hull, took a blow to her chin, and somehow she was called for the foul.
The paint in the WNBA is a physical and violent and often unsafe place. It’s high time these refs learned how to officiate it. “It’s something that people really have to start looking at because, people are dropping like flies with concussions. And it’s not just our team,” Hammon said, referencing the head injuries suffered by star rookie Paige Bueckers and the Washington Mystics’ Shakira Austin. “There’s been too many shots to the face. … This is a physical game. I don’t think anyone’s trying to hurt anybody; however, there are some vicious ones.”
Wilson might be the W’s MVP, but Clark is the crossover celebrity. If officiating ever allows her to get injured, then the scariest place on Earth just might be among the casuals rioting outside the league office. But it shouldn’t take unbridled anger to awaken the WNBA. The league has a problem, and it better fix it before the whole product turns foul."
"For the people who love the WNBA, the players who better have great health insurance just to work in this league, and for the league itself. Because the truth is, the basketball here is evolving, but the inadequate officiating is not.
That was evident during the skirmishes between Sun veteran Marina Mabrey and the Fever’s Caitlin Clark, which were followed by a late-game fight between Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon. Before all that, the referees swallowed their whistles too many times, missing too many shoves. As a result, Fever Coach Stephanie White delivered some blows of her own. On the night her team became the Eastern Conference representative in the Commissioner’s Cup final with an 88-71 win over the Sun, White let loose on officiating that is harming the game.
“Players are faster, they’re better, they’re bigger, they’re stronger,” White said. “Things are happening quickly. Everybody’s getting better, except the officials.”
“When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long … this is what happens,” White said. “You’ve got competitive women, who are the best in the world at what they do, right? And when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete.”
White had been sounding an alarm for weeks about “disrespectful” officiating. Tuesday night, there was no bias. Just blindness. How could the officiating trio not have noticed the clashes around the perimeter? The extra stuff happening inside? Or be aware of the potential for bitterness between Mabrey, a fierce competitor and a holdover from the Sun team that eliminated the Fever last year in the playoffs, and Clark, who had her rookie season run-ins with Connecticut?
It seems the refs still haven’t learned that it takes more than a long review — and a decision to essentially play on — to supervise the most physical basketball league in our land. Throughout this game — just like any game in the W, on any given night — the paint was no place for punks. In the first half, Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell got yanked down from behind. Later, another Fever guard, Lexie Hull, took a blow to her chin, and somehow she was called for the foul.
The paint in the WNBA is a physical and violent and often unsafe place. It’s high time these refs learned how to officiate it. “It’s something that people really have to start looking at because, people are dropping like flies with concussions. And it’s not just our team,” Hammon said, referencing the head injuries suffered by star rookie Paige Bueckers and the Washington Mystics’ Shakira Austin. “There’s been too many shots to the face. … This is a physical game. I don’t think anyone’s trying to hurt anybody; however, there are some vicious ones.”
Wilson might be the W’s MVP, but Clark is the crossover celebrity. If officiating ever allows her to get injured, then the scariest place on Earth just might be among the casuals rioting outside the league office. But it shouldn’t take unbridled anger to awaken the WNBA. The league has a problem, and it better fix it before the whole product turns foul."