Six ejected, including Brittney Griner, as fight breaks out between Mercury and Wings | Page 4 | The Boneyard

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

Orangutan said:
The one thing I'd add to this thread is that fouls are down significantly in the WNBA this year. So Taurasi is right on the money there.

At the recent Sky/Liberty game, I was joking to folks in my section that Dolson and Charles might need 3 rounds in the UFC Octagon to settle things after the game. Fortunately, they never moved past shoving to punching.

Anecdotally, it seems to me that many of the fouls that do get called are of the ticky-tack variety while people are regularly getting clobbered in the paint without calls. It's just very strange. The way they are refereeing the league this year, they were basically asking for this to happen.

If they would just have the refs call fouls, this wouldn't happen. What's the cost of that? A few ugly games with lots of free throws and people fouling out? Seems well worth it.
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What happened? Did they hire HS refs this year to save money?
 
BobbyJ said:
What happened? Did they hire HS refs this year to save money?
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Last season everyone (players, coaches, commentators) complained that the officials called too many fouls, to the detriment of the flow of the game.
 
Trappa said:
Last season everyone (players, coaches, commentators) complained that the officials called too many fouls, to the detriment of the flow of the game.
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I do have sympathy for the refs, and not just because I have been an official (albeit in a different sport). They're pretty much damned if they do and if they don't. In theory, calling fouls should have a deterrent effect and clean up the play. In practice, sometimes you just end up with a ton of foul calls, along with the attendant disruptions and criticism.

It's a really tough needle to thread. Hopefully they can find a way.
 
Beemer said:
Re Griner's & Cambage's comments on how the officials don't see the action that draws the retaliation: This is an issue in the NHL, a lot of cheap stuff happens behind the play, players get ticked off and the next thing you know they're laying their stick across someone's back or elbowing someone in the jaw. The problem is the retaliation move is almost always a lot more obvious than the cheap stuff that leads to it so the officials see it more easily and then they call the penalty on the player retaliating. I think the same thing happens in the WNBA.
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I would argue that there are a lot of cases where the refs in the NHL are looking directly at the transgression and do not call it. Maybe they want to keep the game flowing, but some of the stuff that goes on behind the play is nasty and needs to be cleaned up.
 
Referees can set the tone early in a game by either calling it close or loose. Watching games this year it seems they are letting teams get away with pushing and shoving early.
 
Orangutan said:
Anecdotally, it seems to me that many of the fouls that do get called are of the ticky-tack variety while people are regularly getting clobbered in the paint without calls. It's just very strange. The way they are refereeing the league this year, they were basically asking for this to happen.
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Yeah, just Sunday, I can't remember which game, I was remarking to my wife how someone had gotten tossed to the floor with nothing called, but the next time down the floor someone got called for breathing.
 
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baggerbob said:
Referees can set the tone early in a game by either calling it close or loose. Watching games this year it seems they are letting teams get away with pushing and shoving early.
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But sometimes, most notably the first UConn-UCF game last year and the ECU game a couple of years ago, the refs seem to get sick of blowing the whistle, then anything goes.
 
Rocket009 said:
I would argue that there are a lot of cases where the refs in the NHL are looking directly at the transgression and do not call it. Maybe they want to keep the game flowing, but some of the stuff that goes on behind the play is nasty and needs to be cleaned up.
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This is true too and like the WNBA the NHL suffers from officiating incompetency.
 
So Griner boxes out one time and look what happens. That'll teach her never to do that again.

My favorite 2 things about this unfortunate incident are 1) little Leilani Mitchell holding Griner and holding the basketball. She never dropped the ball!

2) the rookie Turner never moved. She stood in the lane just hoping the game would resume. "Muffet didn't tell me this would happen."

Related image
 
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Orangutan said:
Probably because Griner was the one chasing Anigwe to keep the fight going after the initial skirmish.
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Anigwe kept backing up. She wanted no part of an angry Griner.
 
Plebe said:
mercury.wnba.com

Brittney Griner Purchases Block of 300 Tickets for Phoenix Mercury Game Tomorrow Night Against Connecticut

2014 WNBA Champion, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and 2017 WNBA Scoring Champion Brittney Griner has purchased a block of 300 tickets for the Phoenix Mercury’s game tomorrow night against the Connecticut Sun at Talking Stick Resort Arena at 7 p.m. While Griner is unable to be in the...
mercury.wnba.com mercury.wnba.com
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Hmmmm - interesting... My first thought was I’m tempted to show up at 4:30 and try to get in free. Then I’m thinking, “If I don’t get a free ticket, and I’m already there at the arena, and it’s rush hour... I’d probably just buy a ticket and go to the game.

OK THEN I thought, “Maybe that’s what she had in mind anyway - ha!”

But then I thought, “I wonder if 300 people are even gonna show up to get free tix to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner. Good chance I’ll be one of the first 300. And, if I’m not, then I can get a “scalped” ticket outside for less than face value anyway.

But then I thought, “Why would I drive downtown in rush hour to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner - could you even pay me to do that?”
 
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j66kicker said:
Hmmmm - interesting... My first thought was I’m tempted to show up at 4:30 and try to get in free. Then I’m thinking, “If I don’t get a free ticket, and I’m already there at the arena, and it’s rush hour... I’d probably just buy a ticket and go to the game.

OK THEN I thought, “Maybe that’s what she had in mind anyway - ha!”

But then I thought, “I wonder if 300 people are even gonna show up to get free tix to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner. Good chance I’ll be one of the first 300. And, if I’m not, then I can get a “scalped” ticket outside for less than face value anyway.

But then I thought, “Why would I drive downtown in rush hour to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner - could you even pay me to do that?”
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Ha ha. For some reason this reminds me of the famous "battle of wits...to the death" scene in The Princess Bride. You have a truly dizzying intellect. :cool:
 
j66kicker said:
Hmmmm - interesting... My first thought was I’m tempted to show up at 4:30 and try to get in free. Then I’m thinking, “If I don’t get a free ticket, and I’m already there at the arena, and it’s rush hour... I’d probably just buy a ticket and go to the game.

OK THEN I thought, “Maybe that’s what she had in mind anyway - ha!”

But then I thought, “I wonder if 300 people are even gonna show up to get free tix to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner. Good chance I’ll be one of the first 300. And, if I’m not, then I can get a “scalped” ticket outside for less than face value anyway.

But then I thought, “Why would I drive downtown in rush hour to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner - could you even pay me to do that?”
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a true hoop fan ('ratus gymnasius') can find roundball nirvana even in a freshmen scrimmage. between two schools both named 'our lady of no d.' outdoors. in a blizzard.
you'd better watch your step as you're this close to sliding down the food chain all the way to 'casual fan.' oh, the horror.
 
ClifSpliffy said:
a true hoop fan ('ratus gymnasius') can find roundball nirvana even in a freshmen scrimmage. between two schools both named 'our lady of no d.' outdoors. in a blizzard.
you'd better watch your step as you're this close to sliding down the food chain all the way to 'casual fan.' oh, the horror.
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Oh I’m still thinkin’ about it....
 
Carnac said:
Anigwe kept backing up. She wanted no part of an angry Griner.
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ulRFFlV.gif


If the basketball thing doesn't work out.... perhaps she could try football as a DB. :p
 
j66kicker said:
But then I thought, “Why would I drive downtown in rush hour to see the Mercury without Taurasi and Griner - could you even pay me to do that?”
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Geez, no respect for Dewanna Bonner here. :p
 
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Carnac said:
Anigwe kept backing up. She wanted no part of an angry Griner.
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Someone on twitter said it was unfair Griner got a longer suspension because she was just defending herself.

I'm pretty sure you've completed the self-defense portion when your attacker is running away.

"Hey, you get back here and let me finish defending myself!"
 
Orangutan said:
Someone on twitter said it was unfair Griner got a longer suspension because she was just defending herself.

I'm pretty sure you've completed the self-defense portion when your attacker is running away.

"Hey, you get back here and let me finish defending myself!"
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I think it's safe to say that BG simply lost it. Remember Peter Finch (Howard Beale) in Network (1976) - "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore". It appears that BG reached that level of frustration that night, and had enough and walked over to the window. She wanted a piece of Anigwe, consequences be damned. :mad:

 
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Phoenix Mercury's Brittney Griner says suspension is symptom of WNBA's larger problem -

How much has this incident and subsequent punishment damaged Griner's relationship with the WNBA? Based on what she has said, it's a lot.

That highlights a bigger conflict than what happened on court Saturday: The league's stars, in particular, feel they are undervalued and underappreciated by the WNBA. And that's something new commissioner Cathy Engelbert can't ignore as she attempts to put her leadership stamp on the league.

[Story]
 
CajunHusky said:
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I just watched the 27-second video, and I didn't see anything inappropriate by Anigwe in that sequence. She was driving to the basket and collided with Lou Brown, and the refs called the foul on Brown. You can say that it should have been a charge called on Anigwe, but that's just one of hundreds of questionable charge/block calls -- they occur in almost every game. What did you think was dirty about Anigwe's play in this sequence?
 
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JoePgh said:
I just watched the 27-second video, and I didn't see anything inappropriate by Anigwe in that sequence. She was driving to the basket and collided with Lou Brown, and the refs called the foul on Brown. You can say that it should have been a charge called on Anigwe, but that's just one of hundreds of questionable charge/block calls -- they occur in almost every game. What did you think was dirty about Anigwe's play in this sequence?
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watch the end of the video and you will see Anigwe throw the ball at Brown's face.
 
JoePgh said:
I just watched the 27-second video, and I didn't see anything inappropriate by Anigwe in that sequence. She was driving to the basket and collided with Lou Brown, and the refs called the foul on Brown. You can say that it should have been a charge called on Anigwe, but that's just one of hundreds of questionable charge/block calls -- they occur in almost every game. What did you think was dirty about Anigwe's play in this sequence?
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You don’t see that?
 
This interview validates what the video shows and what I suspected all along. It was not the events of this game that motivated Griner to do what she did. You could surmise this because in this last game Griner was the aggressor from the very start and Anigwe's actions were motivated by her attempt to get away, even her downward swipe at Griner. It was made while she was retreating. Griner had every intention from the very beginning to get Anigwe. If you watch the video closely that becomes obvious. Anigwe's first action came in reaction to Griners locking her up probably to get in some cheap shots in close. Even as Anigwe is backing up after she broke away Griner gets in a back hand to her head that is very difficult to see unless you stop action the slo mo. She was going to get her and Anigwe knew it.

Basically, as someone who plays in the post, Griner has to learn how to channel her anger into her play. There is a way, especially with her size that she could play aggressively and still dish out punishment legally within the context of play. She needs to watch Fowles, who has taken that to an entirely different level. She hurts people constantly and gets away with it.
 
kat0189 said:
I'm frustrated and disappointed that this is the biggest impact Kristine has had on a game so far.

While it's honestly confusing to me in watching the video exactly what transpired and certainly how it exploded into such a fracas, I'm starting to think maybe some of the other Cal fans who questioned Kristine during her junior year slump might've been onto something (while I mostly defended her and gave her the benefit of the doubt).

Kristine did not develop a ton while at Cal (recall she was National Freshman of the Year). She should be studying other posts in the league not scrapping with them.
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As a PAC-12 fan who watched Anigwe live on multiple occasions purposely elbow her opponents in the face and head and occasionally receive flagrant fouls for doing so when playing for Cal, it was refreshing to see the rookie running away in apparent fear from an irate Griner. Anigwe was often a bully during her junior season at Cal. One shouldn't poke the bear without expecting some kind of response.
 
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willtalk said:
This interview validates what the video shows and what I suspected all along. It was not the events of this game that motivated Griner to do what she did. You could surmise this because in this last game Griner was the aggressor from the very start and Anigwe's actions were motivated by her attempt to get away, even her downward swipe at Griner. It was made while she was retreating. Griner had every intention from the very beginning to get Anigwe. If you watch the video closely that becomes obvious. Anigwe's first action came in reaction to Griners locking her up probably to get in some cheap shots in close. Even as Anigwe is backing up after she broke away Griner gets in a back hand to her head that is very difficult to see unless you stop action the slo mo. She was going to get her and Anigwe knew it.
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Neither this interview nor the footage of the incident are consistent with what you're claiming.
 
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