Cheryl Reeve Caught Cursing at Mercury Fans Amid Lynx Coach's Legendary Crash Out
While the Phoenix Mercury pulled off a shocking upset over the No. 1-seeded Minnesota Lynx in Game 3 of their WNBA Semifinals series on September 26 (the Mercury won 84-76), that is far from the main story to stem from that game.
If you're a women's basketball fan, you've surely seen the tirade that Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve went on right as the game reached its end. It occurred after Lynx star Napheesa Collier was seemingly fouled in a pivotal play late in the game, but no foul was called. As a result, Phoenix scored a layup that essentially sealed the win.
THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON WTFFFFFFF CHERYL REEVE EJECTED pic.twitter.com/8yE1rMJnIq
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) September 27, 2025
Reeve was already on the court, screaming at a referee by the time her team went to inbound the ball. It ultimately took several members of her staff to restrain her after she appeared to be on the verge of blows with the referee. After Reeve was eventually removed from the court (which took a while), the game ended, and Reeve then went viral for going scorched earth on the league and its referees postgame.
Among what an infuriated Reeve said when speaking with the media after the game was, "I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It's bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is f****** malpractice."
Cheryl Reeve Caught Cursing Out Mercury Fan Amid WNBA Semifinals Ejection
Even if the Lynx vs. Mercury had been unexciting from a basketball standpoint (although it certainly was exciting), the Phoenix fans would have gotten their money's worth on Friday, solely because of Reeve's crash out.
However, at least one fan seemingly got more than what they bargained for. This was first suggested by an X post from Dano Mataya from HerHoopStats that read, "My source in Phoenix courtside said on her way out Cheryl screamed f*** you to the fans. Great example."
Mataya followed this up with a video of Reeve being escorted off the court. While there's no audio of what Reese said, she can be seen saying, "F****** b****." A moment later, she looks straight at a fan and seems to say, "F*** you!" While her face can't be seen after that, context makes it appear that she says something similar to another fan right after.
And one of the fans nearby hurled Reeve's words right back at her.
Tough look https://t.co/qXvvxG5OzY pic.twitter.com/Pe5ozoEtGi
— Dano Mataya (@drmataya) September 27, 2025
As Mataya's caption says, this is not a good look for arguably the WNBA's most respected coach of all time.
It will be interesting to see whether Reeve is suspended for Game 4 on September 28 because of this crash out.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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