Reusse: Lynx flame out in Phoenix

The game of basketball originated in the United States, yet we Yankees cannot claim unilaterally that it is contested with the largest object in the wide, wide world of sports. For one thing, such a claim could lead to complaints from those with an Afghanistan background.

The national sport there is said to be Buzkashi, where horseback riders compete to score goals with a deceased goat.

We can state that here in the USA, the basketball (even the slightly smaller variety used in the women’s game) is larger than a football or soccer ball, much larger than a volleyball, and baseballs and pucks … forget it.

This is mentioned because once again I’m convinced that there is a diabolical quality to a basketball, that it is large enough to have a mind of its own.

For all we know, well-made basketballs were equipped with artificial intelligence decades before “AI” took over all the responses we now get when googling.

Those viewing the final game of the Minnesota Lynx season of big expectations saw dramatically the independent thinking of the basketball during the second half of Sunday’s Game 4 vs. the Phoenix Mercury.

The Lynx entered as underdogs to stay alive due to the absence of Napheesa Collier, out because of an ankle injury sustained late in Friday night’s loss in Phoenix. Collier had been the Lynx’s best player for most of the season, although not in this series.

Which probably would’ve meant arriving with fire in her game on Sunday, without the ankle injury.

The other missing ingredient was coach Cheryl Reeve.

She was where she should have been — out of sight — after the classless display of protest based on the Collier play in the final minute Friday. The WNBA office made its only possible choice and suspended Reeve for Sunday’s game.

The Lynx came out battling Sunday night with Courtney Williams flying all over, led 25-14 after the first 10 minutes and then were tied 38-all at halftime.

And that’s when the basketball started playing its mind games.

You hardcore complainers probably are accusing the Lynx of giving away another game in this series with a fourth quarter collapse. I’m blaming the basketball.

OK, the Mercury tightened up some on defense, and their Nate Tibbetts was the best coach in the series no matter who was running the bench for the Lynx. Yet, for 10 minutes, the same Lynx that filled up the basket in the third were taking shots that had a chance and the ball (that old prankster) refused to rattle in.

The Lynx made one of their first 10 shots, until McBride made a couple of 3s.

Each of those cut the Mercury lead to one, but Alyssa Thomas (what a tremendous veteran WNBAer) or Satou Sabally had the answer.

McBride was so good, with her resilient 31 … no lie, she had me thinking about that one-player performance the great Bobby Jackson gave the Gophers in the 1997 NCAA tournament, when he was missing guard partner Eric Harris and almost beat Clemson by himself.

The final was 86-81 for a Mercury team that redid its roster almost completely this season.

Presumably, much whining continues in Lynx-dom, with fans believing Collier was ruthlessly fouled by Thomas with 21 seconds left Friday, and Reeve’s tirade was intended as a commentary on WNBA officiating — that it was big picture, not out-of-control, spur-of-moment anger.

Three points:

• It’s running about 50-50 in comments from actual referees as if Thomas’ clean takeaway was followed by her being fully responsible for the collision with Collier.

• Reeve has shown a hair-trigger temper often in her long Lynx tenure. There was no larger message here other than anger in that moment.

And the idea that somehow the WNBA has it in for the Lynx and Combustible Cheryl?

Well, the WNBA was all-in with USA Basketball on Reeve being the national team coach in the 2022 World Cup and again at the 2024 Paris Olympics, so there’s that.

The duties coming up for Reeve now might be less enjoyable than coaching those gold medalists in Paris. Virtually the entire roster of the Lynx was made up of free agents, so Reeve and her front-office helpers will have to put a team together again.