WNBA Brawl could have Mahorn and several players in hot water

Almost everyone can remember the infamous brawl involving the Pacers and the Pistons in 2004 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was a horrible black eye for the NBA and it led to nine players being suspended without pay for 146 games total. Fast forward to July 22, 2008 with the scene still at The Palace of Auburn Hills, and we have another big brawl, this time in the WNBA.

It was a game that was excessively physical and rough from the beginning, but it all escalated with 4.6 seconds remaining. After a free throw was put up, Candace Parker of the Sparks and Plenette Pierson of the Shock got tangled up. Parker fell to the ground with a show from Pierson and Pierson proceded to stand over Parker and apparently taunt her. Parker then pulled Pierson down and the brawl was in full force. Numerous players started trying to break up the fight and keep people safe, but one was injured in the process. While trying to keep Pierson away from the Sparks players, Cheryl Ford was injured and had to be taken off in a wheelchair.

While all of this was going on, a second battle inside the larger battle took place involving Detroit Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn. In the video of the fight it appears that Mahorn was trying to break up the fight, but when Lisa Leslie of the Sparks started coming toward the group of players scuffling Mahorn shoved her to the ground. After this shove, Sparks player DeLisha Milton-Jones then punched and shoved at Mahorn to try to defend Leslie.There is some pretty heated debate today whether Mahorn was being malicious or if he was just trying to help the situation, but regardless Mahorn is liable to be in some hot water.

In the end there were four ejections. Mahorn, Milton-Jones, Pierson, and Parker were the four ejected. Deanna Nolan of the Shock and Shannon Bobbitt of the Sparks were given a technical.

This certainly isn't what the WNBA wanted to see. The league is already suffering through some pretty low ratings, and this brawl was in a nationally televised game on ESPN2. It remains to be seen whether this brawl will leave the league with a black eye as the previous brawl at The Palace did for the NBA. One this is for sure, there are plenty of suspensions that will be announced very shortly!