As the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces enter Michelob Ultra Arena, their coaches will be one under a strange notion. Both Stephanie White and Becky Hammon got a slap on their wrists for supporting the outcry of Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve. But despite getting a $1000 fine, White does not seem to back down from her stance. She made it evident before the game vs Las Vegas, calling out the WNBA for their officiating yet again.

But this time her demands were rather focused on one aspect: consistency. White wants a consistent officiating practice in each game, rather than things going one team’s way in one game and another’s in the next. Talking during Fever’s practice session, White said, “I already got fined for supporting Cheryl. So yeah, which I think is crazy. But look, I think there’s nothing that we want more than just consistency. That’s what I would say.”

Earlier, White got a fine for showing vocal support for Reeve, stating, “I think that she made a lot of valid points.” Like her, Hammon also gave public support to the Minnesota head coach, stating, “From what I heard, she did not tell a lie. She said the truth.” These statements from the veteran coaches of the WNBA paint the league in a bad light.

However, they were quick to take action against the two coaches before Game 5. Even Reeve got a $15,000 fine and a one-game suspension. But still, White is not ready to back down from her stance. According to her, officiating is a concern, no doubt. But rather than an outright rehaul of the officiating department, something which Reeve wanted, they can make small changes.

With a consistency in officiating in games, White believes there won’t be any drastic changes in the game plan for each team. As the Indiana Fever head coach puts it, “Well, I mean, if it were consistent throughout 40 minutes, maybe. I think you just have to adjust, and that’s the thing, like players are going to be able to adjust to how it’s going to be called. If it starts one way and it can stay that way, that’d be ideal.”

However, at the end of the day, White claims it all boils down to trusting your players. Teams can set the game plan for the first three quarters. But for the final one, Fever head coach believes players’ game-time decision to be key to winning. And it has worked out quite well for White. Her team has forced decisive games despite falling behind Atlanta and now Las Vegas.

“You can game plan for a lot of things, but at the end of the day, it’s players making plays. We can game plan for first, second, and third actions in offense, and then it comes down to do you know personnel? Can you put your players in a position where they can make their plays? And so there are a lot of things that are in our control that we have to maintain control of,” White said.

This issue of variation in officiating has been raised by both the Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces camps. Sometimes the officiating is heavily in favor of the Fever, while sometimes it favors the Aces. But both teams feel in the end that it’s the league that is suffering. Preventing this from happening is the primary concern of all these veteran coaches. On the other hand, the primary source of concern for Indiana is Las Vegas right now.

The Indiana Fever face the Las Vegas Aces amidst officiating woes

Despite both coaches asking for better officiating in the semifinals, their main goal will still remain to reach the finals. Stephanie White still wants her players locked in despite winning Game 4 to force a 2-2 tiebreaker final. Although she was happy with the Game 4 win, she warned players that the Aces would come swinging in Game 5.

She said, “I’m incredibly proud of the effort that we’ve put forth to this point, and you know we got another big one on Tuesday, so we’re going to enjoy this today and we’re going to come back tomorrow and be locked in and focused on moving forward. What we did today is not going to be enough for Tuesday (Game 5).”

The key players for Indiana in the Michelob Ultra Arena will be Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston. The duo has been the primary source of the Indiana Fever’s offense since Caitlin Clark was on the bench. It is anyone’s game despite ESPN picking the Aces as clear favorites. However, Stephanie White has lost all best-of-five games whenever she wins her first game.

That is exactly what kicked off the Las Vegas semifinals series. But will Stephanie be able to break this curse, which depends on her player’s performance and also the way officiating takes place in the game? The Phoenix Mercury is waiting for the winner of the Fever-Aces series in the grand finals in a best-of-seven format.