Cheryl Reeve Directs NSFW Rant Towards Lynx Players After Skylar Diggins Blowout

Whenever Lynx HC Cheryl Reeve loses her cool, the whole league takes notice. We saw it last year when she made a controversial statement after the NY Liberty defeated her team in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals: “This s— was stolen from us.” Cut to this year, and her frustration spilled over into her very own locker room, thanks to Skylar Diggins, after the Lynx lost 93-79 to a supercharged Seattle Storm on Thursday.

As per a tweet by WNBA beat reporter Andrew Dukowitz on August 28, when asked about “how to bounce back from the Seattle loss”, the HC pointedly said, “Play some f–king defense, man. Play some defense. Act like that end matters. We have not done that in a long time. And that was the focus. And so you play one quarter of defense. That’s it. And then understand we told them how the team was going to adjust. We told them what Seattle was going to be looking for. We had 12 deflections on the game. That tells you everything.”

Yes, it was a crucial win for the Storm, but for the Lynx? They got a reality check as Diggins secured 19 of her 23 points in the second half while Nneka Ogwumike added 12 points with nine rebounds. Those efforts were enough to help the Storm rally from a 21-point deficit to take the win, the second-largest comeback win in franchise history.

As Reeve shared, “defense” was the crucial factor that helped the Storm sail smoothly. Notably, Minnesota outscored the Storm 25–12 in the first quarter, then took a 6–0 lead in the second, giving themselves a 19-point lead. By halftime, the Lynx were up 46–33, but the Storm outscored the championship contenders, finishing the third with 34 points.

The Lynx allowed Seattle to torch them from deep with 16 three-pointers compared to their own nine. Then, there were 14 turnovers that the Storm converted into 26 points—more than what Minnesota earned off Seattle. What’s more surprising is how the No.1 defensive team started strong in the first quarter, forcing their opponents to miss 10 of their first 11 points. But all’s well that ends well. And for the Storm, it was a day definitely worth remembering.

And they made sure to rub that in…

Cheryl Reeve’s frustration has taken other way around!

Controversy ran amok at the end of the third quarter as Diggins drained a 25-foot three-point basket and immediately began celebrating in front of her bench. The player then walked to the other side and began talking to the Lynx bench. While it appears that she was shouting out loud, it’s still unclear what she said. But that caused a strong response from Lynx players and coaching staff. Obviously, Cheryl Reeve was at the forefront, storming off the bench and complaining to a ref. 

While Diggins didn’t garner a technical foul, she even took it a notch higher later. After the game ended, Diggins and her teammate Erica Wheeler began doing the electric slide. Yes, the same electric slide that the entire Lynx squad does whenever they win on their home court. The duo also broke out into another dance session when heading toward the locker room, with Diggins pulling off her signature hops, and later another round of the slide with her teammate. While Reeve might have been ticked off about the digs, when asked about it, she calmly said post-game, “I just told her I appreciated her level of compete.”

Well, looks like even the outspoken Cheryl Reeve is good at hiding her true feelings sometimes.