Aces’ A’ja Wilson, Becky Hammon call out officials after ‘very interesting’ free throw discrepancy in Game 4

The Fever shot more than three times as many free throws as Las Vegas in the win

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Officiating has been the hot-button issue throughout the WNBA playoffs, and that won’t change after the Indiana Fever shot more than three times as many free throws as the Las Vegas Aces in their season-saving Game 4 victory on Sunday afternoon.

The Fever went 26 of 34 from the line en route to a 90-83 win that evened their best-of-five semifinal series at 2-2 and forced a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Las Vegas. Come Tuesday night, the Aces will hope to have a better whistle than they did in Game 4, when they shot just 11 free throws.

😱 TECH, Becky Hammon calls EXCESSIVE timeout | Indiana Fever vs Vegas Aces, WNBA playoffs basketball.

Indiana’s 34 free throw attempts were the fourth-most in a playoff game in franchise history, while Las Vegas’ 11 attempts were tied for the fourth-fewest in a playoff game in their franchise history.

A’ja Wilson, who put up 31 points in defeat, called the foul discrepancy “very interesting,” while Aces coach Becky Hammon used a less subtle description: “shit.” The Aces were called for 24 fouls, compared to 17 for the Fever.

“I was just looking at the fouls,” Wilson said, when asked what she was studying in the box score while at the podium. “[NaLyssa Smith] had five, Jackie [Young] had five, Chelsea [Gray] had five. That’s very interesting to me because, I’m not saying we don’t foul — yeah, we foul here and there — but that’s very interesting. We’ll do better, we gotta play better defense.”

Hammon interjected to say, “by interesting, you mean, ‘that’s shit.'” When Wilson said she wouldn’t say that because she has a brand to protect, Hammon doubled down: “I’ll say it, I have no brand.”

Later, when Wilson was asked why Aliyah Boston was so successful in Game 4, she noted that Boston shot 13 free throws en route to her 24-point, 14-rebound, five-assist outing. Boston, who went 10 of 13 from the line, both took and made more fouls shots than the Aces’ entire team (8 of 11).

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Aliyah that question,” Wilson said. “Honestly, you just do your work, you gotta do your work early and make it different. But Aliyah did say I have a special whistle and she shot 13 today.

“Yeah, she said it [in Game 3] that I have a special whistle, which is cool. We just gotta play better defense, make her looks a little difficult and go from there.”

Notably, the officiating crew for Game 4 between Las Vegas and Indiana — Isaac Barnett, Randy Richardson and Jenna Reneau — was the exact same trio that called the contentious Game 3 between the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury.

Late in that game, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was ejected after a controversial no-call on a play where Napheesa Collier was injured. Reeve was later suspended for Game 4 due to her on-court actions and postgame comments, which included calling for “change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating” and deeming the referee assignment for the contest “f—ing malpractice.”

Earlier this month, Hammon leveled her own criticisms at the officials over the level of contact that has been allowed. She said the physicality is “out of control” and would lead to fights if it happened in the NBA.

Over the first four games of the Las Vegas-Indiana series, the Aces have been called for 80 fouls and shot 61 free throws, while the Fever have been called for 69 fouls and shot 87 free throws. The majority of that difference was Game 4, however. If you look at a game-by-game basis, things have been fairly even overall.