Cheryl Reeve response speaks volumes after 'confronting Sun players' outside locker room

Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve did not deny claims that she confronted opposition players outside the locker room after Game 1 of her team's playoff series with the Connecticut Sun .

Tensions between the rival camps allegedly boiled over after the visitors pulled off a 73-70 win in the opening game in the semifinals series at Target Center. It was reported by the Athletic that four-time WNBA Coach of the Year Reeve took issue with her opposition's celebrations after their triumph.

The 58-year-old is claimed to have "ran up" to Sun players as they made their way to their locker room, with the venue's security eventually called upon to diffuse the fracas. Now, when questioned about the incident following Game 3 in the series, Reeve gave a coy response on the matter.

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The four-time league championship victor put the altercation down to the will of both teams to win as she refused to distance herself from the reports of a skirmish. She simply said: "It’s like the players always say, there’s really competitive people — really competitive people in the playoffs,”

Reflecting on the alleged incident, Lynx guard Courtney Williams admitted that she had very little to offer in the way of details about what had occurred. Keeping her cards close to her chest, she said: "I didn’t even see them celebrating. I was focused on us. Whatever they did, they did."

Likewise, Sun coach Stephanie White claimed that she was not present to witness Reeve purportedly remonstrating with her players, as she confirmed following Game 3 of the series: "I wasn't there, but that was a week ago, I don't really have any comment on that."

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Still, the Minnesota star admitted that relations were tense with the opposition camp heading into Game 2, which they edged 77-70. She said: "The first game they were chirping and chatting. So we had to give it back to them. Folks ain’t fighting. It’s just playoff basketball."

Ultimately, Reeve has been eager to keep her team focused on the job at hand as her team took a 2-1 lead in the series after a 90-81 win in Game 3. With her troops now one win away from the reaching the WNBA Finals, the coach remarked: "The further you go in the playoffs, the harder it gets.

"The team you're playing against is obviously here for a reason because they're really good. We're here because we're really good. And now it's two teams going back and forth, not going to make anything easy, and then it's just about players finding a way to make a play."