http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=2092737
Updated: June 25, 2005, 9:10 PM ET
Near-melee resonates a day after gameAssociated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- One day after the benches emptied
in a near-melee against the Washington Mystics,
Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury insisted
the incident already was history.
"I haven't seen the tape. I haven't seen any of
it," said Taurasi, who tangled with the Mystics'
DeLisha Milton-Jones late in the second half of
Tuesday's game in Washington. "The way it happened,
it happened, I guess. I don't even remember it."
With 1:44 left, Milton-Jones and Taurasi collided
as the teams ran down the court following a Mystics
basket, with both players hitting the floor. Taurasi
got up and joined the Mercury on their next possession,
while Milton-Jones lingered on the other end.
When the Mercury went back on defense, Milton-Jones
rushed Taurasi and cocked her fist as if to throw a
punch, but Washington's Chasity Melvin intervened
before a blow could be landed.
Taurasi was given a technical foul and Milton-Jones
was ejected, but after the game she accused Taurasi
and her teammates of engaging in dirty play.
"During the course of the game, they were getting
some cheap shots," Milton-Jones said on Tuesday
night. "This is what happened: After you make a
shot, and you're running back to go on defense,
somebody will run and just stop and give you a
shoulder -- and that's blindside. You can't see
it. You can't change directions to prevent it
from happening. I'm not going to tolerate that."
On Wednesday in Minneapolis, before Phoenix played
the Minnesota Lynx, Mercury coach Carrie Graf
defended her star player and her team, saying
their style of play is not unusual in a league
that's growing increasingly physical.
"There's a lot of physical play in the WNBA, and
I don't think we're the team that set the standard
in physicality," Graf said. "Incidents like that
are going to happen in a physical game. Players'
emotions are high."
While much of the attention after the incident
focused on Taurasi, the No. 1 pick in the 2004
WNBA draft, Phoenix players pointed out that
Milton-Jones has had skirmishes with the Mercury
before when she played for the Los Angeles Sparks
from 1999-2004.
"We played against DeLisha a lot in the West, so
we're pretty familiar with the fact that she's a
pretty physical player, and she got upset," Mercury
forward Kayte Christensen said.
Graf went a step further: "DeLisha Milton's one of
the most physical players in the league. I've got
a huge amount of respect for her as a player. ...
But she's world-renowned for being one of the most
physical players on the floor."
After Tuesday's game, Milton-Jones said she'd like
to talk with Taurasi about how her style of play
could endanger other players on the court.
Asked Wednesday if she'd be receptive to meeting
with her, Taurasi said, "I'll talk. I like to talk.
I'll communicate with anyone. We'd probably get a
great conversation out of it. DeLisha and I are,
I would say, friends off the court. Any time we've
been together in an off-the-court setting we've had
no problems, so I definitely wouldn't carry that off
the court."
Lynx forward Tamika Williams, a college teammate of
Taurasi's for two seasons at Connecticut, said she
doesn't understand how Taurasi could have gained a
reputation for dirty play.
"I've never seen it," Williams said. "You hear 100
different stories, but for me, she's had a tough
start. ... Most of her stuff has been more verbal,
being frustrated with tough calls."
Graf blamed the misconception on Taurasi's competitive
drive and intensity. She also pointed out that Taurasi
stayed calm when Milton-Jones charged her.
"Diana Taurasi wasn't the one who went to go throw a
punch," Graf said. "She stood back."
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.34.89.20
WNBA 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
