Six ejected, including Brittney Griner, as fight breaks out between Mercury and Wings

[eebmg]

Makes me want to rewatch the Cal game with UConn from last season. I know she was held to ten points but did Anigwe play dirty? Can’t remember.

To be honest, I do not recall Anigwe having any reputation like that in college or anything happening in the Cal game. I think Geno was very complementary of Anigwe and we know he has an affection for Gottlieb.

I think it is just the pressure of surviving in the WNBA without refined offensive skills.

 

[Plebe]

New from Griner: Basically saying if she gets a longer suspension than Anigwe and Thornton then she may not be back to the WNBA. Says the league doesn't protect its players, constantly getting beat up, and pointing it out to the refs, nothing. Says if she didn't love the Mercury so much she'd already be long gone, doesn't make any money doing this, so why put up with it, etc.

Brittney Griner: WNBA response to brawl could impact her future in league

The 28-year-old has options including playing solely in Russia and for the USA Basketball national team for major international events.

www.azcentral.com

Whoa. Some pretty strong words by Griner. "Bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for her."

She talks about how she and Anigwe had previous issues this year when she was still with the Sun.

"I understand you're a rookie trying to come in and be physical," Griner said. "I'm cool with people that play physical. Me and Syl (Sylvia Fowles) play physical against each other. Me and Liz (Cambage) play physical against each other. But it never escalates. Like we don't throw cheap shots at each other. I might catch an elbow in the rib when Syl is posting up, but I know it's not malicious.​

​

"With (Anigwe), I don't know. She just does way too much. I don't know if she's trying to make a name for herself in the league because she definitely made a name as a runner like run for it. That's the only name she has now."​

She also thinks Thorton should get the longest suspension because she jumped into a fight that didn't involve her in the first place.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Anigwe had a slight dip in her production during her Jr. year at Cal, and I seem to recall noting a bit of dirty or questionable play from her that season. Otherwise I don't recall her being that type of player.

 

[Carnac]

WNBA looking into Phoenix-Dallas fight, ejections

"We're looking at all the video and talking to all the folks. We have people on planes today. We're all here. We're on it," Engelbert said.

The league carries a minimum one-game suspension if a player attempts to throw a punch or if a player leaves the bench area during an altercation.

[Story]

 

[Carnac]

New from Griner: Basically saying if she gets a longer suspension than Anigwe and Thornton then she may not be back to the WNBA. Says the league doesn't protect its players, constantly getting beat up, and pointing it out to the refs, nothing. Says if she didn't love the Mercury so much she'd already be long gone, doesn't make any money doing this, so why put up with it, etc.

Brittney Griner: WNBA response to brawl could impact her future in league

The 28-year-old has options including playing solely in Russia and for the USA Basketball national team for major international events.

www.azcentral.com

"I'm not doing it for the money because we don't make enough and they want to fine me for every little thing," Griner said. "I'm getting techs for protecting myself in games and flagrants because they always only see me. They never see anything beforehand. I'm basically not getting paid this summer already (due to fines)."

Although that's an exaggeration, Griner, WNBA scoring leader, six-time All-Star and league MVP contender, is making close to the league maximum $115,000 with the Mercury this season. She makes a seven-figure salary with her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA's offseason."

There may be some truth to this. Liz Cambage (Las Vegas Aces) says the exact same thing: "They never see anything before hand". If you saw her half time interview with Holly Rowe Sunday vs the Sun, you heard her express angst and discuss at the calls going against her this year, and the NON calls shes not getting. In an earlier interview, she called the refs "cowards". Like Griner, she's pissed!!

nwhoopfan said:
Wow, Cambage letting the league know what she thinks about the way smaller players are allowed to defend big post players. I don't know how the WNBA responds, that would be an automatic fine in the NBA. Responding to the incident w/ Griner last night, as well as her own experiences game to game.

 

[Reypl21]

Who'd Taurasi shove? The video I saw just had her standing around.

Shove is a strong word to use, considering punches were thrown.

She did "shove/interact" with Harrison, Davis, and Ogunbowale. All of whom weren't that close to the action at the time they were "shoved." Her hand gestures and contact were basically conveying the message to back away. Which is what I think every player at that point was all for.
Her getting ejected was the same reason Davis and January for ejected, for leaving the bench. I don't see her pov, where she thought Griner was getting jumped. But it happens so fast, so I'll give her some slack because we all get to watch and judge after multiple times.

 

[Plebe]

As I rewatch the play more carefully, I actually agree with Griner. She was really just standing there, not even pursuing physical contact at the moment the ball goes through the basket. Suddenly, with no apparent provocation, Anigwe yanks her arm hard and then swings at her face (and then runs away). Griner will be suspended at least a game because she pursued and took a swing, but I agree that Anigwe should be suspended longer because she was the initiator. Thornton should be suspended as well.

 

[UConnCat]

As I rewatch the play more carefully, I actually agree with Griner. She was really just standing there, not even pursuing physical contact at the moment the ball goes through the basket. Suddenly, with no apparent provocation, Anigwe yanks her arm hard and then swings at her face (and then runs away). Griner will be suspended at least a game because she pursued and took a swing, but I agree that Anigwe should be suspended longer because she was the initiator. Thornton should be suspended as well.

Looked like Griner tried to box-out Anigwe which in and of itself is news. Griner's extended arm caught Anigwe in the neck. Once the shot goes in, Griner turns to run back and Anigwe pulled at her arm and chops down on her head.

 

[Plebe]

Looked like Griner tried to box-out Anigwe which in and of itself is news. Griner's extended arm caught Anigwe in the neck. Once the shot goes in, Griner turns to run back and Anigwe pulled at her arm and chops down on her head.

Leave it to DTB to settle this one for us. She's on my all-star team.

 

[Plebe]

More from Taurasi on the reffing:

 

[j66kicker]

Her getting ejected was the same reason Davis and January for ejected, for leaving the bench. I don't see her pov, where she thought Griner was getting jumped. But it happens so fast, so I'll give her some slack because we all get to watch and judge after multiple times.

Griner definitely got jumped by Thornton - around mid-event, while Griner was still chasing up the sideline after Anigwe

 

[Reypl21]

Griner definitely got jumped by Thornton - around mid-event, while Griner was still chasing up the sideline after Anigwe

She ran right by Thorton jumping her lol

 

[CL82]

New from Griner: Basically saying if she gets a longer suspension than Anigwe and Thornton then she may not be back to the WNBA. Says the league doesn't protect its players, constantly getting beat up, and pointing it out to the refs, nothing. Says if she didn't love the Mercury so much she'd already be long gone, doesn't make any money doing this, so why put up with it, etc.

Brittney Griner: WNBA response to brawl could impact her future in league

The 28-year-old has options including playing solely in Russia and for the USA Basketball national team for major international events.

www.azcentral.com

Good for her.

 

[TheFarmFan]

This thread is beginning to remind me of the Kurosawa classic Rashomon: there are as many understandings of what happened at the end of the play as there are voices in this thread!

Incidentally, this is why I'm generally pretty forgiving of referees - they have a split second to make calls, and we've had 48 hours, multiple camera angles, slow-mo replays, screen captures, still images, and we still can't agree on even one single aspect of a mere 5 seconds of action!

 

[Gate81]

Okay I've been avoiding weighing in until I saw this many times but I recall being furious last winter watching Anigwe when Cal played Stanford. She did lots of similar things, and it became clear that her game hadn't really improved that much from her great freshman year and may have taken a move south due to the unnecessary physicality.

 

[willtalk]

Watching the video in slo-mo I am going to do a complete 180 in respect to my initial perspective of blaming Aingwe. Anigwe is trying to extricate herself from Griner the entire time. Even her downward swing she does as she is backing up. The key is that we do not see where Griner's hands and arms are or what they are in the process of doing. When Aginwe has cleared some space from her retreat we see Griner's left arm fully extended. The reason is that she has just used it to hit Anigwe on the left side of her head as she was spinning away. Anigwe's swing downward was an attempt to protect her self from that arm. In the entire sequence after she catches Griner's arm in her throat, Anigwe is off balance trying to retreat. It was nothing like the hit and run away that the fast motion video made it appear as. Her swing was directed at Griner's arm coming at her.

As to Taurasi, she has no credibility. She might be one of the best of all time, but her own actions reflect her bias. No one was attacking Griner. No on swung at her all they were doing was attempting to get in her way while she was going after Anigwe. In fact, Griner was attempting to hit Thornton over the top of the official holding her back. Thornton was too far away that even Griners long arms were hitting the air. Thornton never once swung at her.

 

[DefenseBB]

As if the WNBA didn’t have an image problem already trying to garner fans, Bigger TV ratings and intelligent branding and this happens. Add in all the noise of bias and wrong headed justification and many of us continue to have sour tastes in our mouths.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Watching the video in slo-mo I am going to do a complete 180 in respect to my initial perspective of blaming Aingwe. Anigwe is trying to extricate herself from Griner the entire time. Even her downward swing she does as she is backing up. The key is that we do not see where Griner's hands and arms are or what they are in the process of doing. When Aginwe has cleared some space from her retreat we see Griner's left arm fully extended. The reason is that she has just used it to hit Anigwe on the left side of her head as she was spinning away. Anigwe's swing downward was an attempt to protect her self from that arm. In the entire sequence after she catches Griner's arm in her throat, Anigwe is off balance trying to retreat. It was nothing like the hit and run away that the fast motion video made it appear as. Her swing was directed at Griner's arm coming at her.

As to Taurasi, she has no credibility. She might be one of the best of all time, but her own actions reflect her bias. No one was attacking Griner. No on swung at her all they were doing was attempting to get in her way while she was going after Anigwe. In fact, Griner was attempting to hit Thornton over the top of the official holding her back. Thornton was too far away that even Griners long arms were hitting the air. Thornton never once swung at her.

do you/have you played ball? bg is rolling thru a box out and extends her arm hoping the pest walks into a soft clothesline. not so nice, but also not uncommon. part of the game. however, one of the oldest constants in the game is the expected response to the two-hand arm pull down ( at .12 in the slo-mo vid). not the one hand slap away or the two hand push off, but the two hand arm pulldown with the angry yank 'cherry-on-top' as happened here. a dislocated shoulder or elbow flashes thru the players mind. major no-no. often, the abused player instantly raises a fist to clock the jerk. only thing worse is the unexpected one or two hand purposeful shove to the lower back when a player is in the air as for a rebound. no more helpless feeling in the game since it is so unexpected, cuz, you know, you and everybody else are supposed to be jumping with hands up to get the rock, not hands down to cause injury. in either case, the offending player should expect to get decked for being a dangerous hacker. add to it they're playing as a livelihood? no brainer. swing first, lawyers later.

 

[UConnCat]

Watching the video in slo-mo I am going to do a complete 180 in respect to my initial perspective of blaming Aingwe. Anigwe is trying to extricate herself from Griner the entire time. Even her downward swing she does as she is backing up. The key is that we do not see where Griner's hands and arms are or what they are in the process of doing. When Aginwe has cleared some space from her retreat we see Griner's left arm fully extended. The reason is that she has just used it to hit Anigwe on the left side of her head as she was spinning away. Anigwe's swing downward was an attempt to protect her self from that arm. In the entire sequence after she catches Griner's arm in her throat, Anigwe is off balance trying to retreat. It was nothing like the hit and run away that the fast motion video made it appear as. Her swing was directed at Griner's arm coming at her.

As to Taurasi, she has no credibility. She might be one of the best of all time, but her own actions reflect her bias. No one was attacking Griner. No on swung at her all they were doing was attempting to get in her way while she was going after Anigwe. In fact, Griner was attempting to hit Thornton over the top of the official holding her back. Thornton was too far away that even Griners long arms were hitting the air. Thornton never once swung at her.

Nope.

Taurasi's bias? I would hope so. It involved her teammate! Lol.

 

[Shades]

"I'm not doing it for the money because we don't make enough and they want to fine me for every little thing," Griner said. "I'm getting techs for protecting myself in games and flagrants because they always only see me. They never see anything beforehand. I'm basically not getting paid this summer already (due to fines)."

Although that's an exaggeration, Griner, WNBA scoring leader, six-time All-Star and league MVP contender, is making close to the league maximum $115,000 with the Mercury this season. She makes a seven-figure salary with her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA's offseason."

There may be some truth to this. Liz Cambage (Las Vegas Aces) says the exact same thing: "They never see anything before hand". If you saw her half time interview with Holly Rowe Sunday vs the Sun, you heard her express angst and discuss at the calls going against her this year, and the NON calls shes not getting. In an earlier interview, she called the refs "cowards". Like Griner, she's pissed!!

nwhoopfan said:
Wow, Cambage letting the league know what she thinks about the way smaller players are allowed to defend big post players. I don't know how the WNBA responds, that would be an automatic fine in the NBA. Responding to the incident w/ Griner last night, as well as her own experiences game to game.

I would say on the average Cambage dishes out more punishment than she receives. Notice this forearm to the neck of Zahui from a game last season. Zahui powered through it without getting a call from the officials and Cambage decided to flop and go down like a big bag of potatoes.

 

[Carnac]

I would say on the average Cambage dishes out more punishment than she receives. Notice this forearm to the neck of Zahui from a game last season. Zahui powered through it without getting a call from the officials and Cambage decided to flop and go down like a big bag of potatoes.

Pictures (videos) don’t lie. Your call of what the video depicts appears to be 100% accurate. Score 1 for the other side of the argument. Cambage is clearly the aggressor here, then tries to pull a “Natalie Achonwa” (Indiana Fever/Notre Dame), and flops, hoping to get a sympathetic call from the refs. Smh. Thanks shades, great video.

 

[Shades]

Cambage was suspended for a game in the 2017 WNBL season for kneeing Mistie Bass.

Cambage suspended by WNBL panel

Melbourne Boomers star Liz Cambage has been suspended for two matches for kneeing Canberra import Mistie Bass.

www.espn.com

 

[southofnorth]

Watching the video in slo-mo I am going to do a complete 180 in respect to my initial perspective of blaming Aingwe. Anigwe is trying to extricate herself from Griner the entire time. Even her downward swing she does as she is backing up. The key is that we do not see where Griner's hands and arms are or what they are in the process of doing. When Aginwe has cleared some space from her retreat we see Griner's left arm fully extended. The reason is that she has just used it to hit Anigwe on the left side of her head as she was spinning away. Anigwe's swing downward was an attempt to protect her self from that arm. In the entire sequence after she catches Griner's arm in her throat, Anigwe is off balance trying to retreat. It was nothing like the hit and run away that the fast motion video made it appear as. Her swing was directed at Griner's arm coming at her.

As to Taurasi, she has no credibility. She might be one of the best of all time, but her own actions reflect her bias. No one was attacking Griner. No on swung at her all they were doing was attempting to get in her way while she was going after Anigwe. In fact, Griner was attempting to hit Thornton over the top of the official holding her back. Thornton was too far away that even Griners long arms were hitting the air. Thornton never once swung at her.

If anything the slow motion video should reinforce that Anigwe was the aggressor. Griner was boxing out and had her arms up like ANY BASKETBALL PLAYER BOXING OUT. Watch any game and focus on players boxing out. They always have their arms outstretched to keep the player they’re boxing out from circling around them. Griner’s arms are just higher up because she’s 6’8–4” taller than Anigwe. Anigwe looks like she’s trying to fight through Griner’s arms, gets frustrated, and then resorts to swinging at Griner’s face. Not her arm. Watch it again because Griner did not initiate any part of the fight; she just finished it.

Again, watch the whole video. While Griner is being restrained by the ref, somebody comes up and tries to punch her and Griner throws a punch back. It’s hard to miss a player going up behind the ref’s back and throwing a punch at Griner. I don’t know who it was, but there was definitely someone trying to get a couple of cheap shots in. Taurasi was right.

Hard to argue with what’s actually shown in the video.

 

[Shades]

Cambage was suspended during the 2016 season of the Chinese League for a slap to the face of Yelena Leuchanka.

VIDEO: Former Tulsa Shock center Liz Cambage suspended after hit in China game

Cambage, 24, was drafted second overall by Tulsa's former WNBA franchise, the Tulsa Shock, in 2011.

www.tulsaworld.com

 

[TheFarmFan]

Cambage was suspended during the 2016 season of the Chinese League for a slap to the face of Yelena Leuchanka.

VIDEO: Former Tulsa Shock center Liz Cambage suspended after hit in China game

Cambage, 24, was drafted second overall by Tulsa's former WNBA franchise, the Tulsa Shock, in 2011.

www.tulsaworld.com

Here's the other thing I find interesting about all this. There are some players like Griner and Cambage that are very vocal about things like being fouled, and yeah, they're a few inches taller than Stewwie, A'ja Wilson, Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, EDD, and other tall forward/post players. And yet I basically never hear complaining from Stewwie, A'ja, Parker, Nneka, EDD, etc. about how they are always getting fouled, always getting mishandled, it's not worth playing this league, yada yada yada. And not coincidentally, I also don't see those aforementioned players involved in these kinds of dirty plays. There is no highlight reel of Stewwie throwing elbows and chopping people on the block, because she doesn't play that game.

At some level, TBH, I just feel like the same players who whine about non-calls and mistreatment are also often the ones caught acting out on court, so to some degree it's the convicts running the asylum. Griner, Cambage, etc., are terrifically talented and great players to watch perform impressive physical feats on the court, but frankly, I'm beginning to think they bring a certain amount of it on themselves, and the constant whining in a league that already has dozens of other image problems is just not going to help the product.