Mystics coach Mike Thibault has no sympathy for the Minnesota Lynx’s travel woes

WASHINGTON – A canceled flight, mechanical difficulties on a 2nd plane and almost 12 hours of gate-hopping, layovers and eventual journey obtained the Minnesota Lynx into Washington, D.C. in the wee hrs of Sunday early morning. Significantly less than 15 several hours later on, they experienced a basketball recreation scheduled versus the Mystics at the Enjoyment and Athletics Arena.

But inspite of the in close proximity to hour-by-hour documentation by Natalie Achonwa on Twitter and subsequent outrage of WNBA Twitter, do not question Mystics head coach Mike Thibault for any sympathy.

“I’m drained of hearing about it,” Thibault stated pregame. “I’m worn out of examining about it on Twitter. I’m weary about it. It transpires to each crew, and I get it. Every team would like to occur in emotion entirely refreshed but they acquired here past night time. They didn’t participate in yesterday. They did not perform yesterday and I know it’s a extensive day but every person goes by way of that. We took a train 6 hours and then acquired on a bus for another hour and a half before in the 12 months to participate in in Connecticut.”

He even went as far as making a mock crying face ahead of speaking.

Thibault would apologize for the motion right after the match on Twitter. 

Transportation challenges have continually reared their unappealing head in the WNBA at any time because the league’s inaugural time. It’s uncommon to go a few of months devoid of one workforce owning a flight canceled or a several-hour layover.

But as the league has progressed forward above the last few a long time, a lot of are calling for the latest criteria to alter. Making the leap from traveling industrial to most likely private — like the rest of the top American sports leagues — is a regular discussion stage. It attained a breaking level past year when the New York Liberty’s entrepreneurs, Joe and Clara Tsai, offered their team chartered flights in the latter half of the yr. It led to a noted history fantastic of $500,000 as the league deemed it a “competitive advantage.”

This situation, in specific, was exacerbated by how Lynx head mentor Cheryl Reeve assumed Minnesota’s plights were being remaining dealt with by the league place of work. There was no interaction to the group on how the WNBA could assistance relieve the predicament. They played a genuine back-to-back, playing at residence in Minneapolis on Thursday, at the Indiana Fever on Friday, then turning around to perform in Washington two days later on.

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“I’ve been in the league a extended time, as a leader of a crew for extra than a ten years and if you do this long sufficient, you’re gonna be in these predicaments,” Reeve informed reporters pregame.

“I assume in our predicament, yeah, it was hard and disappointing that we ended up in that predicament. Probably increased disappointment was a deficiency of assist that we felt in phrases of unresponsive messages to the league about thinking of [chartering a flight and pushing the game back]. And so, from our standpoint, there was no communication with the leadership of the Minnesota Lynx. And so that, to me, is an epic are unsuccessful.”

With the way matters had been progressing on how it was acquiring extra and extra dire for the Lynx, the WNBA arrived at out to the Mystics. Thibault stated the crew basically was not in a condition to be equipped to reschedule or even press the recreation back again. It was an declared sellout, which would finish up currently being a 70-57 Washington gain.

“I signify, we have shut to a sellout now and it is not like they were being arriving this morning,” Thibault said. “I know it was a very long vacation day, we have all experienced them. So, we weren’t in a position to seriously accommodate them, unless there was a a great deal a lot more mitigating circumstance in places ideal now.”

Of training course, chartered flights would lead to several of these transportation problems to be moot. Thibault pointed out that this has been a problem for quite a few decades in the league and recalled various instances exactly where his teams ended up in rough spots when it came to vacation complications. He’s been in the league for 20 a long time and has had his fair share of hiccups even though relying on industrial flights.

This time it was the Lynx. Yrs ago, the Las Vegas Aces determined not enjoy versus the Mystics because of to repeated travel delays and that recreation was canceled. Tomorrow, it could be Washington or any other team in the league.

“That’s just life. And I’d like to sense sorry for them but I’m sorry I really don’t,” Thibault explained.