For the first time in the season, Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark fans were jealous of the Chicago Sky. Yes, that is counterintuitive, as the Sky are so much worse than the Fever right now. However, this one bold act from Sky coach Tyler Marsh was something all Fever fandom admired. Marsh had a perfectly valid crash-out in their matchup against the Sun as he aggressively approached the referee over a foul call. 

He was ultimately ejected, but at least he had his players’ back. Some Fever fans wanted Stephanie White to follow suit after Lexie Hull and Kelsey Mitchell suffered brutal face hits against the Minnesota Lynx.

“You know, it was more physical than Friday’s,” White said after the game. After their superstar, Caitlin Clark, ultimately broke down after more than a year of suffering strong blows like these, the fans are tired of it. The excessive physicality was once again called out by this National Analyst. 

Sports Illustrated and CBS analyst Robin Lundberg said on his YouTube Channel, “The WNBA, the physical badge, I think, is starting to come even more under scrutiny and into question, especially in conjunction with the officiating. Now, that’s a big picture conversation that goes beyond just the Indiana Fever, of course, but given Caitlin Clark and the defense that she’s dealt with and the the overly physical play that’s allowed on the perimeter and then sometimes the overly physical play that is allowed to fester into more because the officials don’t call the game consistently. That is leaguewide, right?”

First, it was Mitchell who fell to the floor in the third quarter after Lynx forward Jessica Shepard hit her in the face. She was trying to guard Shepherd, who just dismissively threw a punch to Mitchell’s face. She went down and was checked by the medical staff before getting back up again. 

Shepherd was given a flagrant 1, but the Lynx did not stop throwing punches. Hull was next, on the receiving end of a vicious elbow from Kayla McBride in the fourth quarter. The two were in a scuffle under the Minnesota basket, and McBride just smacked Hull on her face, who went down. Fortunately, both escaped any long-term injuries, but we already have evidence of the long-term effects of such blows. 

Clark missed her 14th straight game with her right groin injury, coupled with her bone bruise in her left ankle. This was her fourth injury of the season, which has prevented her from having another mind-boggling campaign. Clark is apparently closer to returning than before, but this injury can affect the entire season.

The league and its officials are risking cutting the players’ careers short because of their referee issues. The same old tune keeps playing on these issues, and the only response from Engelbert is, ‘We take that employee input,’ with no real change in sight. The refs once again dropped the ball, refusing to call a flagrant on the Hull incident, exactly what Lundberg called out.

Kayla McBride’s Foul on Lexie Hull Could Have Meant Ejection

The Indiana Fever fans missed their enforcer, Sophie Cunningham, when McBride knocked out Hull with a one sharp swing. The teammates watched Hull go down in agony, but no player walked up in defense. With four minutes left on the clock, the Fever were still in the game, being 10 points behind. While fighting for the rebound, Hull accidentally fouled McBride, so McBride’s retaliatory swing was called a technical foul as it happened during a dead ball. Lundberg criticized the call, insisting McBride’s action was deliberate, not accidental.

He said, “For anybody who’s complaining about the foul call, she did foul her. She reaches in there under her, but McBride kind of purposely swings that elbow back. You know, sometimes when you’re playing ball, you use the elbows to sort of protect the ball, but she knew what real estate Lexi’s face was occupying, and she threw her elbow back anyway. So, that to me is at least a flagrant one, if not worse than that. It’s called a technical foul there.”

It was initially only called a personal, but was only changed into technical after review. Technically, it would have been even worse. According to the WNBA rule book Exception: Rule 12A, Section V, 1(4), “A player, coach, or trainer must be ejected for: (1) A punching foul, (2) A fighting foul, (3) A Technical foul for an attempted punch or swing with no contact, or a thrown elbow toward an opponent above shoulder level with no contact.” 

However, McBride was not, and who knows what could have happened if she had. It is not like the Fever lost solely due to the refereeing issues, as they were clearly outgunned amid their injury crisis. Even Stephanie White has a snide comment about the refereeing in this game after the game, saying, “It was called differently than Friday’s,” while referencing their previous game.