“All the headlines will read ‘Reeve cries foul.’ Bring it on.” Cheryl Reeve’s bold response to the way the New York Liberty got possession of their franchise’s first championship on Sunday night has found support in the basketball community. Aside from her “stolen” championship comments, one main thing that the Lynx coach suggested was a third party to rule over or aid the game officials. And Sue Bird agrees with the take, giving a VAR example.

In the latest episode of A Touch More with partner Megan Rapinoe, Bird talks about the foul call Reeve challenged involving Alanna Smith and New York’s Breanna Stewart. The former pro explains the rules of the challenge and then praises Reeve, “She made a good suggestion, which is – should they bring in another set of eyes, another referee who’s watching, maybe they’re at the scorer’s table.”

Rapinoe then pitches in with a soccer video assistant referee (VAR) reference, and Bird agrees that VAR could prove useful in basketball as well. “We do have a fourth official, they’re like a little bit of a sub, just in case a ref gets hurt. But then they sit at the scorer’s table. But I do think they participate, I don’t know to what extent. In basketball, the rules are set up for the referees to call in such a way where it can eliminate human error.”

The Seatt;e Storm icon mostly agrees with Cheryl Reeve that WNBA officials, whose average salary ranges from $425 a game up to $180,000 a year, could only benefit from another pair of eyes. “They try to make things very black and white, this or that, they try. But at some point, when you’ve called a foul, are you trying to prove yourself right? Are you saying you’re wrong? We’re human beings. I’m not even saying refs do that, by the way. I think refs generally do a good job on bias. But why not have a booth to come in and review it?”

And yet, one point the 4x WNBA champ does make is that the Lynx were not at as much of an advantage as their coach seemed to think they were. That foul being overturned could have worked in Minnesota’s favor, but that it was not the sole cause of them losing out on their 5th championship either. “There was one thing for New York that stood out…which was their size.”

“New York’s size throughout the series was an issue for Minnesota. Just their length, their ability, what that led to was their ability to get offensive rebounds,” Bird points out. She recalls Stewie missing two free throws before the controversial foul where she landed them both safely. The retired pro says that the reason she was in that position was because the Liberty got so many offensive rebounds. Of course, length played a very crucial part in it. The Liberty has seven players in its 12-player roster who are above 6-ft in height. In fact, none of them are under 5-ft-7, giving them a great height advantage and one of the biggest weapons to coach Sandy Brondello.

While Bird supports the Coach of the Year, there is one media personality who’s not having Cheryl Reeve’s comments.

Stephen A. Smith gives his two cents on Cheryl Reeve’s comments

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is not known to mince his words and often falls headfirst into controversy because of that. After Cheryl Reeve made headlines, the New Yorker, at first, agreed with the Hall of Famer coach that the foul was called out wrong. But while admitting that he was not disputing her statement, he also simply said, “Well cry me a river.”

He went on to point out that Minnesota should have won Game 3, especially given that it was a home game, and prevented them from coming into Game 5 at all. “[The officiating] didn’t stop you from having one of the best records in the sport. It didn’t stop you from getting to the WNBA Finals. So why all of a sudden did it cost you a championship? You’ve got to understand what the obstacles are in every particular situation, and champions know how to answer the call.”

Smith finished with, “You’ve got to know how to answer the call. And Coach Reeve, respectfully, you didn’t. That’s the bottom line.”

Clearly, both sides of the coin exist in this situation rife with controversy. While the sad truth is that human judgment can err, maybe Reeve and Bird are right and an extra support system should exist in basketball. Or maybe, Smith is right and the winning team should make an ironclad case for themselves! Afterall, the game was tied at overtime and both the teams had equal chances to grab the win.