LAS VEGAS — Becky Hammon doesn’t think the physicality in the Indiana Fever-Las Vegas Aces WNBA playoff semifinal series would fly in any other league.
And that’s coming from a coach who has multiple years of experience as an assistant in the NBA, who has assistants on her staff with even more NBA experience.
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“Most of my assistants come from the NBA, and they’re like, ‘This would not fly in the NBA. This level of physicality would not fly in the NBA. There’d be fights. There’d be fights,’” Hammon said following Las Vegas’ 90-68 win over Indiana on Tuesday night. “We just have very well-mannered women that can get to the next play, but there would be fights. I’m not concerned, because I know we’ll keep our composure. But I mean, I don’t understand. I don’t get it.”
The series between the Fever and the Aces has been physical. Players are fighting tooth and nail under the basket, shoving for leverage and positioning.
It was destined to be a physical series, sure. Aces center A’ja Wilson and Fever center Aliyah Boston are the hubs for their teams’ offenses, and they’re going to be touching the ball a lot. They’re also guarding each other under the basket, fighting to get a steal or make a basket at any given time.
But, Hammon said, the games aren’t being called like the league assured coaches and franchises they would be. Officials were supposed to crack down on both defensive 3-second calls and fouls for limiting players’ freedom of moment.
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Neither of those things have happened, Hammon said.
“I mean, you can bump and grab a wide receiver in the NFL for those first five yards, but you can do it in the W for the whole half court,” Hammon said. “You put two hands on somebody like that. It should be an automatic foul. They have the freedom of movement. Freedom of movement, there’s no freedom. And I’m not saying that we’re not fouling too. I’m not saying that, but I’m saying it’s out of control.”
There were 41 fouls called Tuesday night — 19 on the Fever and 22 on the Aces. Las Vegas ended up going to the line more, however, as Indiana committed more shooting fouls.
The Aces went 15 of 21 from the free-throw line, while Indiana went 11 of 15.That large free-throw number from the Aces impeded the Fever’s ability to play the quick transition offense they thrive in.
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“It’s hard for us to find flow when there’s a foul call every 10 seconds,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “I mean, it just really is, you know, and when they’re at the free throw line, we can’t get up and down the floor. And that’s, that’s a challenge. They were much more aggressive and physical defensively. And, you know, we didn’t counter that with our off-ball actions or with our back cuts. So they took us out of our comfort zone.”
Officiating has been an issue across the league all of 2025. Multiple coaches, including Hammon, White, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and Golden State coach Natalie Nakase have spoken out about the officiating throughout the regular season and even in the playoffs.
Hammon said during Tuesday’s shootaround that there had been 61 defensive 3-seconds penalties called throughout the league in the regular season. In the playoffs so far, there has been just one.
“I don’t understand. I don’t get it,” Hammon said postgame. “The freedom of movement is supposed to be a point of emphasis. Defensive 3 seconds is supposed to be a point of emphasis. Like, I don’t know why we have points of emphasis.”
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Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube channel and join Fever Insiders Live postgame.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Becky Hammon on WNBA officiating, refers to NBA, NFL rules for comparison
