Reeve on Indiana coach's criticism: 'I don't give a hoot'

"I didn't see her comments. Where is she criticizing me?" Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said when asked about her rival coach in the WNBA Finals ripping her.

On Thursday, Indiana coach Lin Dunn said Reeve showed disrespect for the game and should have been giving a second technical and ejected for throwing her jacket in Game 2. Dunn also was unhappy with Reeve telling her players to use their elbows under the basket.

"What comes to mind first and foremost," Reeve said, "is I don't give a hoot what Lin Dunn thinks about me or my players. We don't answer to her."

Game 3 of the WNBA Finals is 7 p.m. Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana.

"What is interesting to me, is it might be the pot calling the kettle black," Reeve said. "That's what it seems like to me because it is known throughout the league how Indiana likes to play. And we simply decided, after Game 1, that if this series is going to be physical, we have to join the party.

"The end result was a Game 2 where we engaged in being more physical. We were closer, we contested and somehow we ended up on the side of committing more fouls than they did. That's the way it goes.

"In the end, I could care less what Lin thinks."

There were three technicals called in the game -- one on each head coach and one on Lindsay Whalen -- and afterward both coaches complained about the officiating.

"All of us are anticipating at the start of this game [Game 3] you might hear quite a few whistles," Reeve said. "So if the players are smart, they heed the warning. That is the hardest part in all this. We have some players that are playing great and it is getting overshadowed.

Tamika Catchings of Indiana and Seimone Augustus of the Lynx both scored 27 points in Game 2.

"Tamika Catchings had had a tremendous playoffs. And, obviously, in Game 2 she was really, really good. And we have a player that was equally as good in Seimone. Players decide this thing. And all of us are trying to put them in the best position to be successful."

As for her sideline meltdown in Game 2, Reeve said she has no regrets.

After most of the media left and the Lynx started practice, Michelle Smith of ESPNW stayed behind and threw a few zingers at Reeve.

"If you need a jacket," Smith said, "you can get one at the mall. Maybe you need a tear-away one."

FAMILY SUPPORT

Reeve's mother and two brothers called her after Wednesday's game.

She said her mom understood the frustration building up in her daughter, long before the no-foul call on Whalen's drive in the third quarter, which led to two technicals and the jacket throwing.

She said her two brothers are comedians. She said she used to play ball in the backyard with her younger brother. "He told me he was watching the game with, 'That's nothing. She used to do that all the time when I called her home-run ball a foul.' "

DUNN'S LATEST

Dunn said on Friday morning that if the officals let Game 3 be like a war or a football game, it would be. She said there was a lot of contact on Wednesday and nothing was called.

"There were five, six minutes when it got wild," she said.

Dunn also had a few kind words for Reeve, saying she has enormous respect for her: "She and I are good friends. ... She's done a super job."

For certain, Dunn said, the Fever will match the Lynx in how hard they play in Game 3: "We will be just as physical as they will be."

Reeve was looking more at Dunn as a competitor on Friday. "We won't be going for a beer here in Indy," Reeve said. "That is probably not going to happen. We will see if time heals wounds, whether I get a Christmas card or not."

TV RATINGS UP

Wednesday's Game 2 was the highest rated WNBA Finals game since 1999.

"It was great, it was tremendous the attention the game got, for sure," Reeve said. "The WNBA was seen in places that we haven't been seen on in a long time. I don't necessarily want to be the reason why tonight's game is widely watched.

FEVER SHORT-HANDED

Guard/forward Katie Douglas, Indiana's second-leading scorer, did not take part in the Fever's morning shoot-around. She has missed the first two games of the WNBA Finals because of a sprained left ankle won't play Friday.

"There is a little window of opportunity for Sunday," Dunn said.

Also out for Game 3 is guard Jeanette Pohlen. She injured her left knee in Game 2. That leaves the Fever with nine healthy players to 11 for the Lynx.

"Fatigue became a factor in the fourth quarter" on Wednesday, Dunn said. "We wore down. I've got to do a better job of managing minutes."

"The impact for them might be that you see more Catchings at the three at the small forward spot as opposed to the four [big forward]. That might be an adjustment for them. These guys are tough. They are not saving themselves for anything. Any fatigue or tired you put in the back of your mind and keep playing.

"It hasn't set in yet [with Indiana]. These guys have been amazing. To go from the road series in Connecticut, come directly to Minneapolis and give us two really, really hard games back there. These guys have been impressive."

ENERGY HIGH

"We are excited to play Game 3," Reeve said. "We love playing on the road and we love playing in hard environments, which no doubt tonight will be that here at Conseco. [The old name of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.]

"We are excited because the more we play these guys, the more we figure out. So we've got a great deal of confidence."

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve: "I like Indiana. I used to coach here."