When a sports season comes to an end, the conversation usually revolves around how well the winning team has performed. There might be some jabs from the losing team as everyone calls them sore losers but the general feeling is a happy one. Not this time around in the WNBA though, as while New York is celebrating the Liberty’s victory, the Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve grabbed headlines with her comments on officiating. But after telling the crowds to “Bring it on,” the 58-year-old wants a break.

In her exit interview for the season, per Mitchell Hansen, Reeve said that she will be taking time away from basketball. “Cheryl Reeve said after the long season, she’s going to ‘shut down for the first time in a long time’” and plans to take some time for herself and her family. ‘You won’t see out, you won’t see me around. I’m going to shut down for a bit.'” Whether she’s going to retire or not is unclear at this point, but she’s been in Minnesota since 2010 and coaching since 1988.

Reeve had boldly said in the post-game conference yesterday, “Officiating is not that hard.” The Breanna Stewart-Alanna Smith foul decided the game in the Liberty’s favor, per the coach as the refs did not accept her challenge. What stung more was that the game at Barclays Center seemed to have different rules for each team. Where the Lynx were called out more, Reeve felt, the Liberty got away with a lot.

“All the headlines will be, ‘Reeve cries foul.’ Bring it on,” Cheryl Reeve continued after the game. “Bring it on. Because this s— was stolen from us. Bring it on.” She had also asked for a change in rules, asking a third party to look at challenged calls because she “guaranteed” that Smith’s so-called foul would not have stood anywhere else.

But after helping lead the Lynx to four titles and almost breaking the WNBA record with a fifth championship, all the Coach of the Year seems to want now is a break in the offseason. And take a break from the unfairness she feels has been imposed on the Lynx.

On the other hand, when reporters asked Sandy Brondello about Reeve’s “stolen” comment, she had a six-word response that made the room laugh.

Sandy Brondello “respects” Cheryl Reeve but thinks the refs were “pretty fair”

Rather than celebrating the Liberty’s championship, the narrative has become more focused on the losing side. Just before that foul, Sandy Brondello was heard telling Breanna Stewart in a time-out, “If they foul you, embellish it.” After the game had been won and the champagne popped, of course, the New York team brought a different mood to the somber environment the Lynx had left in.

To the reporter asking about Reeve’s comments, Brondello responded, “I thought they were pretty fair.” It earned laughter from the room as the head coach continued, “That’s what you’re gonna get, give and take – game number one, we should have won. I have so much respect for Cheryl and that Minnesota Lynx team. That was ugly, but we found a way to win.”

Come Thursday, New York City will hold a ticker tape parade for a basketball team for the first time since the 1970s. Meanwhile, Cheryl Reeve and Co. will be taking time to recover from the “gut-wrenching” loss, as Napheesa Collier put it, and come back stronger next season.