Sparks–Shock brawl

Los Angeles Sparks at Detroit Shock
Detroit Los Angeles
81 84
1234 Total
Los Angeles 29191422 84
Detroit 19151829 81
Date July 22, 2008
Venue The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan
Attendance 12,930

The Sparks–Shock brawl (also known as The Malice at the Palace II) was an altercation that occurred in a Women's National Basketball Association game between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks on July 21, 2008 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Ray Ratto, of the Wall Street Journal, wrote, "It was in the classic sense, one of those things that occasionally happens when highly competitive people want the same thing and one can’t have it."[1]

Altercation

With 4.5 seconds before the game was officially over, the fighting began on the court during a free throw attempt by Los Angeles' Marie Ferdinand-Harris. As Ferdinand-Harris scored the point, the Shocks' Plenette Pierson made a hard block on the Sparks' Candace Parker, causing both players to become entangled and fall over. As Parker tried to stand up, Pierson aggressively walked into her, knocking her back down, and resulting in Parker pulling Pierson down to the ground. Parker and Pierson both tried to throw a punch at one another before Parker was tackled by Deanna Nolan, as players and coaches from both teams quickly intervened. Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn came off the bench as a peacemaker, but inadvertently incited more violence when he knocked Sparks' player Lisa Leslie backwards to the floor as Leslie swung at him. Leslie's teammate, DeLisha Milton-Jones, pushed and punched Mahorn in the back in retaliation, causing the Sparks' Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page to both come off the bench and shove Mahorn from behind as well. Pierson, Parker, Milton-Jones, and Mahorn were all ejected from the game. The altercation also resulted in a season-ending ACL injury to Shock player Cheryl Ford, who was trying to restrain Pierson, and had to be taken from the court in a wheelchair.[2]

This was the second major basketball fight to occur at The Palace in four years, the other being the Pacers–Pistons brawl in 2004.

Suspensions

Player Suspension Length Reason
Plenette Pierson, Shock 4 games Initiated altercation
Rick Mahorn, Asst. Coach - Shock 2 games Escalated altercation
Shannon Bobbitt, Sparks 2 games Left the bench, threw a punch
Murriel Page, Sparks 2 games Left the bench, threw a punch
Candace Parker, Sparks 1 game Threw a punch
DeLisha Milton-Jones, Sparks 1 game Threw a punch
Lisa Leslie, Sparks 1 game Threw a punch
Sheri Sam, Shock 1 game Left the bench
Elaine Powell, Shock 1 game Left the bench
Tasha Humphrey, Shock 1 game Left the bench
Kara Braxton, Shock 1 game Left the bench

According to WNBA rules:

Because they were ejected after the altercation, Parker, Milton-Jones, Mahorn, and Pierson all started serving their suspensions the immediate next game. Also according to WNBA rules, each team must have at least eight active members to play a game. Therefore, suspensions were staggered by alphabetical order of last name. To have eight on the Sparks' roster, Page was allowed to play in the immediate next game and served her suspension starting with the second game after the altercation. Because she was not active, Powell served her suspension when she was taken off the inactive list.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ http://scores.espn.go.com/wnba/recap?gameId=280722003
  3. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=3503435

External links

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