Nneka Ogwumike fouled out of Game 5, and at least 2 of her fouls were bogus

With 5:29 remaining in Game 5 of the 2017 WNBA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks, four-time all-star and 2016 Most Valuable Player Nneka Ogwumike’s night came to a screeching halt.

Ogwumike picked up her sixth foul halfway through the fourth quarter with her Sparks rallying from down double digits. Without her consistent presence, the Sparks were unable to contain new MVP Sylvia Fowles, who broke her own WNBA Finals rebounding record with 20 boards Wednesday night.

Los Angeles eventually lost to Minnesota, 85-76.

Untimely foul trouble plagued Ogwumike, who finished with just 11 points and three rebounds in only 26 minutes on the floor. But some of those fouls, most of which occurred in the second half, were questionable at best. Especially since Ogwumike didn’t pick up her first personal foul until the 2:21 mark in the second quarter.

Ogwumike’s first foul was an overzealous attempt at jumping the passing lane. This one, she’d probably agree, was warranted:

Her second foul was a bang-bang call where she stepped into a driving Lindsay Whalen’s path. We can give the benefit of the doubt to the referee here, too:

Here’s where things get a little suspect. Ogwumike and Fowles are battling for a rebound and both go tumbling to the ground. But the referee whistles Ogwumike when, at worst, this was a foul on Fowles (hehehe), and at best, it was a no-call. And this is after Fowles delivers an unwhistled blow that sends Ogwumike temporarily crashing to the ground.

Here’s a look from multiple angles:

That’s not a foul, ref.

Neither is her next whistle. On this possession, Fowles makes a power move for position on the low block, and somehow, some way, Ogwumike is called for a foul:

That marked Ogwumike’s third foul in a two-minute and four-second time span. That’s ridiculous.

Her fifth foul wasn’t egregious, but the fact that she had picked up four so quickly made it even worse. Here, Ogwumike is attempting to trap Maya Moore in the corner, but Moore falls to the ground, out of bounds, and the Sparks’ star is called for a foul:

If this was her first, second, third, or even fourth foul, OK; take it easy, Nneka. But this is Ogwumike’s fifth foul, after the two before were fraudulent.

And then, of course, there’s her sixth foul.

This is a foul. On any court, playground, video game, or backyard, touching a shooter’s elbow in the middle of a jump shot is a cardinal sin — one that Ogwumike undoubtedly broke. But this foul came after a few questionable ones, and it ended the night for Los Angeles’ best player.

Ogwumike scored 11 points in the first half of the Sparks’ WNBA Finals loss. She finished with 11 points because she couldn’t get into a good rhythm getting called for foul after foul in the third quarter.

Would the Sparks have won had Nneka Ogwumike not been whistled for a few tick-tack fouls here and there? Maybe. Minnesota had a firm grip on their lead, and even when Los Angeles raged back multiple times throughout the night, the momentum never truly shifted until the Sparks’ wild rally at the end of the game.

But one thing is for sure: fans will never know how the cards would have played out if Los Angeles’s MVP would never have fouled out. And even though the Lynx won, nobody ever wants to beat an opponent that isn’t at full strength.