An official mess

 It's starting to look like the Phoenix Mercury vs. the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA finals -- the Mercury lead top-seed Minnesota two games to one in the best-of-five semis and the Aces are up 2-1 on the battered Indiana Fever -- and I, for one, am anticipating a real slugfest.

As in, a Mercury player slugs an Aces player. An Aces player slugs a Mercury player. A good old-fashioned "West Side Story/Anchorman" rumble ensues; Brick materializes out of nowhere with a grenade.

And, yes, OK, I'm being facetious. But how can you not be when you're talking about the WNBA?

The spotlight turned on the league by Caitlin Clark last season was supposed to highlight the skill and precision of the basketball the women are playing these days, but instead the spotlight illuminated the glaring incompetence of the league's officiating. It's not quite the WWE, but at times it's come damn close. The only thing missing some nights is a top rope for players to leap off of and land on poor Caitlin.

And, yes, OK, again I'm being facetious, but not by much. The playoffs are supposed to be any Sportsball league's showcase, but to the WNBA's dismay its playoffs have only showcased coaches being dragged off practically foaming at the mouth over the heinousness of the officiating.

Enter Cheryl Reeve of the Lynx, who wasn't foaming at the mouth but did have to literally be dragged away last night at the end of the Lynx's 84-76 loss to Mercury, in which Lynx star Napheesa Collier suffered an ankle injury while being stripped of the ball by Alyssa Thomas of the Mercury.

Not long thereafter, Reeve marched into the postgame and ... well, unloaded both barrels.

"If this is what the league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating," she said. "The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinal-playoff worthy, it's f***ing malpractice."

And also: "We were trying to play through it, trying not to make excuses. But one of the best players in the league (Collier), she had zero free throws and she had five fouls. She had her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg taken out."

And also: "I can take an L with the best of them. I don't think we should have to play through what we did."

After which Reeve left the room without taking questions, with this benediction: "They're f***ing awful."

 Now, lest you think this was just fine whine from a coach on the brink of elimination, hers is hardly an isolated opinion.  A couple of nights before, Aces coach Becky Hammon -- after a win, mind you -- blasted the officiating too, saying the level of physicality that was being allowed would never be tolerated in any other league. Clark was fined last week for criticizing the officials. And so on and so forth.

Of everyone, Clark probably has more personal insight into the WNBA's officiating problem than anyone. Although claims that she was being targeted because she was white or straight or out of simple jealousy have been grossly overblown, she has gotten knocked around as much as anyone. This season she played just 13 games, and was finally sidelined for the season because of two groin injuries. 

She has plenty of company. Just check out the Fever's half of the boxscore from last night's loss:

Damiris Dantis DNP-CONCUSSION PROTOCOL

Chloe Bibby DNP-LEFT KNEE INJURY

Sydney Colson DNP-LEFT KNEE INJURY

Sophie Cunningham DNP-RIGHT KNEE INJURY

Aari McDonald DNP-RIGHT FOOT

Caitlin Clark DNP-RIGHT GROIN

Yikes. George Pickett had a shorter casualty list.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Fever soldier on, for one more game at least. Ditto the Lynx. Ditto, I suppose, the game officials -- who called just 14 fouls on the Lynx and 15 on the Mercury last night, in a physical 40-minute game.

Methinks Cheryl Reeve might have a point.

And Becky Hammon. And Caitlin Clark. And a whole bunch of others.