Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James knows the game of basketball as well as anyone at the highest level of the sport. But on Sunday, James wasn’t happy when referees in the WNBA dictated the end result of the final game of the WNBA Finals.
The Minnesota Lynx had a chance to secure their fifth WNBA in the history of the franchise, leading by two points with five seconds remaining in the winner-take-all Game 5 matchup on Sunday night.
The New York Liberty had one final chance to tie the game up and force overtime. And the referees seemingly helped them out a great deal in doing just that, calling a highly questionable foul on a Breanna Stewart shot attempt.
Breanna Stewart wasn’t even touched lmao this isn’t a foul pic.twitter.com/o7KvWlci9w
— John (@iam_johnw) October 21, 2024
Stewart would go on to make two free throws to tie the game and force overtime. And this would give the Liberty all the momentum in the game, going on to win the game in overtime and secure their first-ever WNBA championship.
The Lynx had every chance to win the game even after the foul call was made. But they seemingly would have had the win all but secured if the call hadn’t been made.
LeBron James took to social media to offer his thoughts on the foul, largely disagreeing with the call and blaming the officials for not letting the players dictate the game in the final moments.
“I’m sorry but that wasn’t a foul! Let the players dictate the outcome of a close battled tested game,” wrote James on X.
Someone like James has been on the wrong side of bad calls before. But that kind of call being made in the final seconds of a championship-deciding game is something that even he hasn’t experienced, which has to be an incredibly difficult pill to swallow for Lynx players.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.