Friday night’s intense battle between the Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx went down to the wire with the Sparks prevailing 77-76 to defeat the Lynx and become the 2016 WNBA Champions.
During regulation play, league MVP Nneka Ogwumike sank a jump shot at the 1:12 mark to put the Sparks ahead. Once the play was completed Lynx coach signaled for a timeout to contest the basket believing the shot did not leave Ogwumike’s hands before the shot clock expired. Referees ruled the shot beat the buzzer but upon review the WNBA ruled the shot did not leave her hands in time.
Chief of Operations and Player Relations Renee Brown issued the following statement regarding the play:
“After reviewing postgame video, we have determined that Nneka Ogwumike’s shot with 1:14remaining in regulation time should not have counted due to a shot-clock violation, and that the referees improperly failed to review the play under the instant replay rules.”
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve expressed her disgust with the missed calls in the post-game press conference.
“It’s really unfortunate that players continually put themselves out there, playing and competing at a really high level. Whether it was the 8-second call in LA or the game today, doesn’t matter, OK? The game today, it’s not fair to the players,” Reeve said. “It’s not enough just to apologize or send out a memo that they got something wrong, OK? These players are so invested and something must be done about the officiating in this league because it’s not fair to these great players we have.”
What does this mean? It means the shot shouldn’t have counted but the game is now over and the Sparks have been declared the victors.
There’s always next year and the Lynx will have long memories.