The Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever game on Sunday was already charged up. Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi were presented by the media on two opposite ends of the spectrum, who could have a sort of competition against each other. If that wasn’t enough, Brittney Griner clashed with Aliyah Boston for which she was also given a foul. The game at the Footprint Center was such that in the first half itself, it saw 5 technical fouls and a major reason for them was the teams fighting against each other during huddles. And fans took the opportunity to mock the players.
The issue started when Temi Fagbenle scored off a free throw. Following that, the Mercury as well as the Fever huddled up. In such a situation, Fever guard Erica Wheeler was protecting her teammates. However, the opposition’s guard, Natasha Cloud, was furious and both teams started pushing each other’s players. This was the start of the fight that had most of the stars on the court then yelling and shoving each other as the referees tried to intervene.
The fight soon turned intense as the Mercury’s Kahleah Copper and Cloud were screaming their side of the story and trying to occasionally push the Fever players, whereas the latter had Fagbenle and Wheeler in front who were standing up for their players. In such a mob situation, Clark made a move of disconnecting herself from the crowd, which she could have done to avoid any injury.
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The Mercury // Fever game is getting spicy 🌶️
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) June 30, 2024
The two groups had then to be separated by the officials and fans had various reactions to the same.
Fans take a jibe at WNBA players
“I was surprised this didn’t happen 1st 4 minutes into the game,” stated one fan. The user must be pointing to the fact that this was supposed to be a big game for both Taurasi and Clark and hence things were pretty charged up right from the start. Therefore, the W follower had expected that this would happen early on in the game. Nonetheless, as mentioned, there were 5 technical fouls in the first half itself.
“Caitlin like I’m just trynna hoop,” another fan noticed Clark. Clark had tried to solve the issue but when it aggravated she just let her teammates do what they thought was right. Clark has previously also complained about the physicality in the game and considering her lesser strength, she wouldn’t have wanted to be sidelined due to an injury sustained in the game.
“They’re just tryna get to CC to give her some advice,” another fan commented. The fan was mockingly referring to Clark’s comments earlier when after a loss to the Seattle Storm on Friday, she had revealed that no one gives her advice. So the social media user took the matter into his own hands and mocked the team as well as Clark.
“Copper started it,” another fan commented with laughing emojis. The fan was pointing at the instance when Copper started intervening and started yelling at the opposition’s teammates. “Looks like a carnival cruise,” another fan compared the situation to a fair/circus. According to the fan, such situations are common in overcrowded areas where the public would rush in joy.
Perhaps this incident pushed the Fever to a stunning win at the Footprint Center. Their next encounter couldn’t come soon enough.
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Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.
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