Mercury's Natasha Cloud shares honest 2-word response to suspension
09/03/2024 01:48 PM
Natasha Cloud and Diana Taurasi both received their seventh technical foul of the season during their loss against the Las Vegas Aces on Sept. 1. In the second quarter, Cloud was playing defense on Kelsey Plum and she thought there should have been a foul called, but there wasn’t. Could then went to the officials and voiced her thoughts and was given a technical. Taurasi was given a technical later in the game for yelling something, but the Mercury guard said she was talking to her teammates, not the officials.
After league review, Taurasi had her foul rescinded but Cloud’s was upheld, which means that she won’t be available during the Mercury’s matchup against the Atlanta Dream on Sept. 3. League rules say that when a player has seven technical fouls, they will be suspended for one game.
Cloud went on X, formerly Twitter, to voice what she thought about the suspension, and all she needed was two words to describe how she felt.
“Free me,” Cloud tweeted.
Natasha Cloud has picked up her 7th technical foul of the season
She will not be able to play in the Mercury's next game unless the technical is rescinded#WNBApic.twitter.com/zcQNHbiwnp
— WNBA Universe (@wnbauniverse) September 1, 2024
During the Aces game, the Mercury were assessed three technical fouls, which led them to set an all-time WNBA record for technicals on the season with 33. With only seven games remaining in the season, the Mercury will have to be careful about how they go about certain things on the court.
Natasha Cloud, Mercury players voice frustrations on officiating
Throughout the past few weeks, the Phoenix Mercury have voiced their frustrations on the officiating and how certain things are being called. Natasha Cloud shared her thoughts on the officiating after their loss to the New York Liberty on Aug. 26.
“I think an overall conversation that needs to be addressed this year — y’all just heard A’ja [Wilson] talk about it, you’ve heard other top players talk about the issues. We’re expected to come out every single night and put an elite product on the floor. We need our counterparts who are also part of this game to do their jobs,” Cloud said. “But it needs to be addressed. This isn’t the first time we’re talking about it and we’re not the first team to talk about, we’re not the first players to talk about it. At some point, the W has to be serious about this.”
Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham spoke about their loss against the Aces on what the officials and the team need to do moving forward.
"Those refs are eyeing people like no other,” Cunningham said. “Pay attention to the game, don't be so sensitive. On our thing, we got to own it. Sometimes we need to focus on ourselves and what we can do. We're not going to get every call. The refs are humans and they're not going to get every call right either. Sometimes you got to suck it up and keep playing.”
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