With the WNBA Finals set to begin on Saturday afternoon between the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream, all the chatter is around which of these franchises will win their first championship since joining the league.
For Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham, though, her focus is on a different issue.
During the Dream’s series-clinching win in Game 3 against the New York Liberty back on October 9, a situation unfolded following a foul in which Atlanta forward Angel Reese followed Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu after the latter had committed an illegal screen.
Reese followed Ionescu down the court shouting “you can’t do that” at the four-time WNBA All-Star.
No technical foul was called, which incensed Cunningham.
The Fever guard mentioned on her “No Hesitation” podcast that Reese avoiding the technical and subsequent $500 fine that is usually tacked on to a playoff tech was “absolutely ridiculous.”
“If you’re going to chase someone down the court and get in someone’s ear, that should be a tech. Anytime,” Cunningham said. “It’s going to be a tech in the regular season. Now, if she were to stay on her side and just kind of yell and say something, I’m all for that. But the fact that she didn’t get a tech on that, I think that’s absolutely insane.”
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She wasn’t the only one to share this sentiment, though, as ESPN WNBA analyst Rebecca Lobo mentioned on the broadcast that Reese should have been hit with a technical foul as the incident unfolded.
While Cunningham was clearly miffed at the circumstances, she did mention that she respects the fact that Reese had her teammate’s back in that situation.
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The problem with not calling that first technical foul, though, is that a few minutes later, Reese was T’d up after standing chest-to-chest with Jonquel Jones after blocking her layup attempt into the stands.
Two technical fouls in the same game would have resulted in an ejection of Reese, and could have changed the game in favor of the Liberty.
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Cunningham didn’t like the technical that was actually called on Reese, calling it “good playoff basketball,” but did take exception to the gap between the two calls, characterizing it as “weird and inconsistent.”
Reese is sitting on two technical fouls heading into the Finals, and two more within the span of the seven-game series would result in a one-game suspension.
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Reese and Cunningham’s teammate, Caitlin Clark, have a history of hard fouls and competitive banter between the two.
With that in mind, some credit has to go to Cunningham for being measured and fair in her assessment of Reese’s fouls.