Game 5 of The WNBA Finals was rigged

Question

Fans Accuse WNBA Of Rigging Finals After Seeing Commissioner’s Outfit - Athlon Sports

I believe game 5 of the WNBA Finals to be "rigged" as the refs allowed the New York Liberty to win their first ever Finals. The controversial call happened late in the 4th quarter when New York Liberty Foward Breanna Stewart appeared to travel and then was fouled and sent to the line with 5 seconds left. There did not appear to be any contact with the shot and there was no replay by the refs. This allowed New York to tie the game and win in overtime. 

Comments

While I understand that bad calls down the stretch of the game combined with the commissioner wearing a New York skyline on her dress may appear that the game was rigged, there is really no evidence to suggest this. Bad calls are simply a part of basketball, and while I personally believe the commissioner of the league should remain unbiased in all ways, her wearing a dress of the NYC skyline means nothing. Game 5 took place in New York, so that's probably the most simple explanation for her choosing to wear it. While the combination of the bad call and the dress is unquestionably a bad look for the WNBA, the idea that the game was rigged seems very far fetched to me.

Answer 1

Almost every playoff from both NBA and the WNBA have controversial games with controversial calls. But in the end, the refs aren't robots and we all can make mistakes. However, everyone has biases and after seeing many coincidences stacked upon each other, and many voices such as LeBron James spoke out about this on X, formerly twitter.

The commissioner of the WNBA, Cathy Engelbert, is known for making many bad decisions, and wearing that dress was one of them. Rigged or not, wearing something like that as a commissioner is just asking for problems, especially if it looks like a pattern of NY at the finals where it is held in NY.

In conclusion, I believe this game has been rigged but we don't have enough evidence to support it.

https://www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak/wnba/lynx-coach-cheryl-reeve-stole-wnba-championship-headlines-from-liberty-01japns8xgjy

https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/wnba-finals-lebron-james-disagrees-with-controversial-call-that-helped-send-liberty-lynx-game-5-to-overtime/

Comments

I liked the main content of your factcheck but was a little confused about a few things. Why did you choose to include 2 sources that you never really referenced in your factcheck? Also I wondered why you also decided to give your opinion about the claim in question when that isn't really relevant to factchecking the original claim. Besides the opinion, I thought you had a good factcheck.

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oops i forgot to reference them. but that is where i got my argument from. i put my opinion in it because this topic, referee controversy, has been going on in the sports world for a while and now it is at a point where we, the audience, don't know whether this is real or not so i put in my input on it.

Answer 2

I believe that this claim is false because although it may appear as though the commissioner had a bias towards the winner of the game based on the dress she chose to wear that doesn't necessarily mean that she went to lengths to rig the game. There are no other sources claiming that there would be any other reasoning for the game being rigged besides the dress she chose to wear so therefore there is not sufficient evident to say with confidence that the game was rigged.

Comments

I like and agree with this answer, but if there are "no other sources" referencing the game being rigged, could there possibly be a source out there that debunks this idea? Or is this idea too vague that it's not a big topic in the sports world? Either way, I agree with your response.

Answer 3

Many fans were upset because of a theory that upholds no legitimacy and accused NY Liberty of rigging a game. Due to the fact that a news commentator was wearing a New York skyline dress and the WNBA New York Liberty team won the game, many fans speculate that NY winning was a rigged situation. While the coincidence is unusual, a coincidence is all it is. There is no proof of this game being rigged for the favor of the NY team. All sources that have claimed this rigging are big headlines and grabs at nothing but speculation. As well as being sources that aren't backed up by any scientific evidence, interviews or data.

https://athlonsports.com/wnba/fans-accuse-wnba-rigging-finals-commissioner-cathy-engelbert-outfit

https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/content/2024-10-22-jason-whitlock-calls-controversial-wnba-finals-a-rigged-embarrassment/

Comments

I looked at the articles you linked and confirmed that they held no evidence, and contained pure speculation formed from opinions. While I can understand how shady this looks, at the end of the day nothing has been proved. I did my own search just to confirm that no evidence had been posted to prove these claims and was unable to find anything at all that indicated this match was rigged.

Answer 4

The main point of the article was that the WNBA commissioner rigged the game based on her clothing. 

There is no evidence currently that has been verified that supports that the WNBA rigged the game. The commissioner of WNBA, Cathy Engelbert, wore a dress that resembled the New York Liberty. Accusations came from a poor call by the refs at the end of the game. Bad calls are very common in professional sports and could just be a coincidence. In conclusion, it's too soon to determine if the game was rigged but would be interesting to see in the future how the WNBA responds to these accusations. 

https://www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak/wnba/lynx-coach-cheryl-reeve-stole-wnba-championship-headlines-from-liberty-01japns8xgjy

Comments

This response does a good job of emphasizing the lack of evidence supporting the claim that the WNBA finals were rigged. You made it clear that the accusations made surrounding the commissioner's clothing are not credible. By pointing out the obvious that people are humans and bad calls are common in sports, this provides a rational explanation for the baseless claim. However, this argument could be strengthened by discussing the context of the controversial referee decisions and why they may have made the decision/their reasoning for it. This could add more depth and better understanding to the argument.

Answer 5

Controversial calls are almost a guarantee to happen, no matter the sport or competition level. The reason it's pretty much a guarantee is because all referees are human, and humans make mistakes. Something also we should note is that if something is viewed as controversial, there will almost certainly be biases playing a part.

Many people nitpicking all these things to make the point that the game was rigged all have a reason with some sort of bias for the Lynx or against the Liberty. Otherwise they wouldn't really care or be complaining in the first place.

I can understand the frustration that the commissioner of the league was wearing a dress that resembled New York, and that seems extremely unprofessional for a person of her hierarchy. But, I think it would be a slight exaggeration to automatically come to the conclusion that the game was rigged based on her dress.

One call or one dress doesn't decide a game. Each team has 40 minutes of regulation play to win the game. Controversy is a staple of sports that shouldn't be looked at as rigged if it didn't go in favor of your bias. There is not enough sufficient and clear evidence to support that this game was absolutely rigged.

Answer 6

This claim is opinion based. The basis of the claim is on a controversial call in the last seconds of regulation. Another factor that people are clinging to is that the commissioner's dress design appeared to be the New York skyline. However, these can only be classified as conspiracy theories. The game was close enough to have gone either way. There were no complaints about anything happening in overtime based on the claim and the provided source. So therefore, if the Minnesota Lynx were the better team they had the chance to best the New York Liberty with an extra quarter of play in overtime. 

Controversial call in WNBA Finals decider still irks Minnesota Lynx

Answer 7

When looking at the article the game was obviously not rigged as people are saying. It is a typical commentary for opposing fans to say that the game was rigid, but when looking at the game clip of the foul on Breanna Stewart it is apparent that Smith, number 8, hit Stewarts left hand as the shot was being made resulting in free throws to be taken. The outcome of the rest of the game was determined based on the players efforts. In regards to the article commenting on the WNBA's commissioner Cathy Engelbert wearing the New York skyline dress this could very well be due to the fact that the game took place at the New York Liberty's home court. When looking at sports people are always going to be creating their own ideas on what happens, but we have to be able to understand that the players and the referees are all humans, not robots, so they have the chance of making mistakes. The outcome of the game isn't determined by one play, it is determined by the sequence of plays. In the end the New York Liberty beat out the Minnesota Lynx and that is on the team not the referees. 

Answer 8

As with any sport, there are controversial moments and "bad calls" that decide games sometimes. For example, the 2018 NFC championship game, there was a blatant pass interference made by the Rams that was not called. This ultimately led to the Rams winning the game. These kinds of calls happen, but they aren't fair, and they lead to major controversy in the sports realm. It would be unfair to say that athletes are participating in a rigged system as they work too hard and have invested countless hours into their craft. In the case of the New York Liberty there was an uncalled travel on Breanna Stewart which led to her being fouled and making two free throws. This is totally unfair and raises suspicion amongst the WNBA community since this game took place in New York. However, this does not mean that the league is rigged. There is not enough evidence and I do not believe there ever will be enough evidence to support the narrative that a WNBA game or any professional sports game is rigged. My source is Former NFL defensive lineman Kahlil Mckenzie who I have spoken to on several occasions about the dedication and work he put in to make it professionally. Kahlil now actively encourages young football players to focus on athletics and scholastics opposed to other negative extracurricular activities. To believe that he accepted to play in a rigged league and accept defeat is something I cannot fathom.