First it was the ladies of NASCAR, and now it’s the ladies of the WNBA that are getting rough and tough. Well, at least three ladies and one gentleman, and it all happened with just about five seconds remaining in the game!
During the last quarter of Wednesday night’s Los Angeles Sparks/Detroit Shock game, the Sparks’ Candace Parker and the Shock’s Cheryl Ford had at it after Ford fouled Parker.
The very next possession, Parker and the Shock’s Plenette Pierson ran into one another and wound up on the floor. As the two tried to get up, Pierson appeared to purposefully run into Parker… setting off the fight.
Not letting it drop, Parker threw a punch at Pierson, and Deanna Nolan from the Shock was having none of it. She tackled Parker, which brought coaches from both benches to the court. At one point during the scuffle, it appeared as though Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn knocked the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie to the court.
Mahorn, who back in a 2004 Pistons-Pacers scuffle pulled Ron Artest away from fans, claims he was again trying to break up the fight; a claim that most people believe.
“I was trying to protect the whole game, the integrity of the game,” Mahorn said. “The WBNA is very special to me because I have four daughters. I don’t even raise my hand to them, and I would never push a woman. This game, I love this game too much.”
Bill Laimbeer, Shock head coach, also backed his assistant.
“Rick Mahorn is known as a peacemaker, from even the brawl we had here with Indiana,” Laimbeer said. “He went out there to get people off the pile, and to get people to stop the confrontation. That’s who he is, that’s what he does.”
While Leslie did not make a public comment, Sparks coach Michael Cooper seemed satisfied with Mahorn’s explanation. “I think Rick was trying to play peaceamaker, but he’s just too big,” Cooper said. “I didn’t see exactly what happened, but he apparently gently tried to push Lisa away.”
After Leslie was pushed, the Sparks’ DeLisha Milton-Jones apparently shoved Mahorn and was ejected, as were Parker, Pierson and Mahorn. Nolan and the Sparks’ Shannon Bobbitt received technical fouls for the incident.
