Lexi obviously is not out there trying  to hurt anybody. Lexi plays defense and  for this to happen to her is disgusting.

Welcome to another episode of the Adrien  Ross Show, where sports and culture  connect. Indiana after losing to  Minnesota links on Friday night by five  points faced them again yesterday on  Sunday and this time Minnesota with the  FISA call your back after being out for  seven games with an ankle injury  defeated the fever 97- 84 winning three  of the four quarters. So, I want to get  into a little bit about the game and  then unfortunately I gotta talk about  some of the hits Indiana took, namely  Kelsey Mitchell and Lexi Hall. Nasty,  nasty stuff. So, I’ll start with this.  When I started the live stream before  the game began, I pulled out my two  coaching clipboards, old coaching  clipboards. Haven’t seen those things in  years until recently. and I certainly  haven’t used them in years. And I wrote  some key points on the clipboard. Some  of those things were Aaliyah Boston must  get Aaliyah involved early.

We cannot  wait till the fourth quarter to get  Aaliyah Boston going. So, we got to  start with her. I pointed out you have  to know where the links shooters are.  Kayla McBride. Her mama might have named  her Kayla McBuckets because it doesn’t  take her long to get a shot her get her  shot off. And you gotta know where she  is. You got to know about Nafisa  Collier. You got to stay on her because  she is Nafisa Collier. And you guys have  heard me say many times, she’s a grown  woman among girls. She’s that good. I  also mentioned Jessica Shepard because  she had a triple double in the previous  game in the third quarter. But let me  tell you, when a team is good, a team is  good when you have a player like Jessica  Shepard who does have a triple double in  the third quarter of the previous game  and she barely has to play because you  got Nfisa Collier on the floor. She’s  back. That’s when your team is deep. And  Jessica Shepard never put up a shot in  this game. Didn’t even have to. So you  knew that it was it was going to be  tough. It’s a tough team. and in  Indiana. Hey, no shame to losing to the  Minnesota Leaks.

Everybody’s lost to the  Minnesota Leagues, but you have to  compete. And so, had on the board, there  are some things that you’ve got to focus  on. And like I said, knowing where those  shooters are. I also say you have to be  able to fight through screens because as  I pointed out in the recap after  Friday’s game, Minnesota knows how to  screen. This team is like a welloiled  machine. They’ve been playing with each  other for quite some time. They know  where their teammates are going to be  both on offense and defense.

They just  flow quite well. Now, speaking of Nfisa  Collier, she came back and scored 32  points in this game. Kind of reminds me  of when Caitlyn Clark came back the  first time against the New York Liberty  and she dropped 32 points. Yeah. Fee, 32  points. And then you had 14 points from  Courtney Williams. Then Kayla McBuckets,  had 13 points. And listen, Kayla never  missed. She was four for four from the  field, three for three from three, two  for two from the free throw line, four  rebounds, four assists, one steal, a  plus 12. Okay. And then also you had 13  points from the bench. Maria Klingova  with 13. and then you everybody else was  sort of like a spattering of of points.  But to come back after that amount of  timeout and hit those 13, that’s really  huge for this team. Indiana, how did  Indiana do? Well, we got 26 points from  Kelsey Mitchell and then we got 16 from  Sha Petty. She’s been good for us off  the bench with 16 points and 14 points  from Aaliyah Boston to go along with  seven rebounds, five assists, one steal,  one block. And then we got 10 points  from Natasha Howard with eight rebounds,  three assists. So we had one, two,  three, four players in double digits,  but it just wasn’t enough.

a team that’s  been playing together for a long time  and a team that has a lot a lot a lot a  lot a lot of missing parts and people  who have not had an opportunity to even  practice that much. So considering all  that hey hats off to Indiana and so  let’s take a look at some footage of the  game. So I said on my clipboard Aaliyah  Boston needs to get involved early in  the game. Did that happen? It absolutely  did. And I want you to keep your eye on  Aaliyah Boston. Is she going to be  aggressive trying to get down into the  paint? Back down. Back down. Turn serves  and steps through defenders. Two points.  So, here you see Courtney Williams  bringing the ball up the floor. Now, one  of the things that I challenged people  in my chat to do yesterday was to pay  attention to all that is going on on the  court. A lot of times our eyes are  locked in on wherever the ball is and  we’re not really paying attention to the  whole action. And that’s why sometimes  we go, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe  she had a wideopen shot. Like, why  aren’t we playing defense?” But when you  look at the whole action, you begin to  see, well, what was going on away from  the ball that enabled that person to be  open to hit that shot? So, it’s not  always just as simple as, hey, nobody’s  playing defense.

Again, Minnesota’s good  on both sides of the floor and also good  off the ball. So, watch here as Courtney  is bringing the ball up the floor. I  want you to keep an eye over here on the  right of your screen. This is Kayla  McBride where my pointer is Kayla  McBucket. So, Courtney’s here bringing  the ball up, but here is Kayla McBride.  So, here it is. So, Kayla has Lexi on  her and right here you can see number  six. I believe that’s I always get six  and eight mixed up. Carlton and Smith,  but yes, six is Carlton. So, she’s got  Kelsey Mitchell guarding her. Lexi Hull  is guarding McBride. So, what happens?  There is Carlton setting up that screen  for McBride. So, there’s the screen  right there on Lexi. So, Kelsey is going  to switch  because that screen is there. So now  Kelsey picks up McBride. So McBride got  a little bit open because of the screen.  But wait, here comes another screen. And  now you have Smith setting the screen.  And now McBride is going to be able to  get around there and get some room. And  then here Nefisa sets the screen right  here on Kelsey. And then McBride goes  over shoot. Kelsey is right there. But  that’s how quickly McBride is able to  get her shot off McBuckets.  So, three screens and her just hustling,  using the screens.

Our defenders trying  to get through the screens. They’re  fighting through the screens, but again,  McBride doesn’t need much time.  Three points for Minnesota.  So, what do we do now this possession  with 850 left in the first quarter? Will  Aaliyah be as aggressive this time?  Turns and what does she do? basket.  I put a check mark on my clipboard  because yes, Aaliyah Boston getting  involved early on. Lexi Hall gets to  Aaliyah leads her to the basket. Boom.  High off the glass. Boston in the  basket. Now, let’s take a look at how  aggressive  Minnesota becomes on Aaliyah Boston.  Now on this possession, let’s take a  look at how aggressive  Minnesota becomes on Aaliyah Boston.  How watch right here. You see arms are  wrapped around here holding her here.  She’s trying to fight for the ball now.  Face guarding her now. Kind of on her  back. And there she has got a hand on  her right there holding her, wrapping  her. You can already see the difference  in how they’re going to guard her.  Now, let’s take a look at Minnesota’s  offense and how well they know one  another. And also, you’ll get to see how  Indiana drops the ball here on defense.  So, Courtney Williams just brought the  ball ball over half court and you’ve got  Nfisa Collier coming over. So, here you  got Howard on Nfisa Collier. Now, notice  here how we are playing Courtney. We’re  giving her the right side. So Nfisa  seems like she’s going to set a screen,  but Courtney says, “Listen, they’re  giving me this.”

So what does she do?  She goes to the right and because we are  beat off the dribble right here, Odyssey  Sims is beat. So now you’re going to  have Howard who’s going to need to come  over, step over, and help. She does,  which is a problem because now you’ve  got two people on Courtney Williams,  which means Nafisa Collier is open.  Going back to what I put on my  clipboard, you have to know who the  shooters are. You cannot have two people  going after a Courtney Williams and  leaving the Fisa Collier open at this  point when when Howard has to pick up  Williams. If you if um Odyssey can’t  catch up, Odyssey has to come over here  and help on the visa. But instead, you  got two people way down here on Courtney  Williams and then you’ve got Aaliyah  Boston now who’s got to guard two people  up here. And when one of them is Nfisa  Collier, that’s a problem, right? It’s a  problem cuz look right here, Courtney,  she says she turns and she looks and  because Aaliyah Boston must pay  attention to Nfisa Collier because she  saw the note on the clipboard.

No,  because she knows this is Nfisa Collier  and there are two people and so she’s  got her eye here on Nfisa Collier which  enables over which enables who is this  Smith. Why can’t I I get these people  man? I think this is um Smith which  enables her to do what? Cut to the  basket. That is a huge breakdown and it  also is a testament to  how many weapons Minnesota has. But it’s  a huge drop. You cannot leave Nfisa. You  can’t have two people going for Courtney  Williams and then allowing Nfisa Collier  to have to be picked up which allows  somebody else to cut to the basket  because there are many weapons on the  team. In any case, Indiana still won  that first quarter 30-2  and that was the last time Indiana won a  quarter in this game. So, I got to  transition now to what the people out  there want to call physicality,  which is just nasty basketball. It’s  another word for nasty, nasty  basketball. So, we’re going to take a  look at what happened to Kelsey Mitchell  and then we’re going to take a look at  what happened to Lexi Hall. I got to say  this,  I have not ever thought of Minnesota as  a dirty team. There are some teams when  you think dirty, nasty, would try to  hurt you, etc. There are some teams and  some players who come to mind.

I had  never thought of I just never associated  dirty play with Minnesota in the past.  But the stuff that happened to Kelsey  and Lexi, especially Lexi,  nasty. Really?  So you see Kelsey Mitchell all the way  over here guarding Kaylee McBride in the  right corner. Ball is being inbounded.  So there’s the ball inbounded. Keep your  eye on Chelsea Mitchell.  So, she gets the screen. Shepard screens  her and then she gets through the  screen. She’s on the ball  and now she gets hit right in the face  with Shephard’s arm and she hits the  floor and she’s hurting.  He’s very hurt. Very hurt.  Let’s take a closer look at what  happened. Kelsey wants to get through  because she’s guarding McBride.  Then there is the elbow gets stuck out  and then the hand right to the face.  Now, this is in the course of Shepherd  trying to make a turn. Obviously, she  felt like Kelsey was in her way and so  she extended her arm, which catches  Kelsey. So, after a forever review, you  know how these go. They came back and  they assessed her a flagrant one. Now, a  flagrant one doesn’t mean that it was  intentional per se or malicious per se.  The language is that it was unnecessary  and it was clearly unnecessary and it  was clear that she wanted to make some  space and so she swung her arm to make  some space. So, again, doesn’t  necessarily mean that it is intentional,  but it means that it’s unnecessary. She  used her arm to try to gain an advantage  and so she gets assessed the flagrant  one.

The WNBA is going to have to clamp  down on situations like this because  when you don’t, you get what we saw  right there. She was clearly turning her  arm so that she could get an offensive  advantage. You can’t have that. But  okay, you came back with a flagrant one  at least, which means that the Indiana  Fever would get two free throws and  possession of the basketball for a  flagrant one. Two free throws,  possession of the basketball. Now, let’s  fast forward to the fourth quarter when  Lexi Hall gets elbowed in the face,  knocks her off her feet in a situation  that looks to me to be malicious, and  intentional, and I’ve never associated  McBride with being a dirty player, but I  don’t see anything but a dirty play in  this situation. So, we’re going to go  and take a look at what happened to  Lexi. Kayla McBride with the ball.  Lexi Hall playing defense.  Take a look.  Look at it. So, foul there on Indiana  on Hole there. But then that is a  technical.  That is a technical dead ball contact  technical.  Take a look again here. Caleb McBride  with the ball. Lexi Hull playing  defense. Kayla McBride  grabs that ball, lifts it up, gets  fouled by Lexi Hall, and then what does  she do?  There is a technical  hits right in the face.  Lexi hits the floor with her leg bent  behind her. There’s again, there it is.  It’s a little surprising to see her in  the jaw.  Ridiculous. Aaliyah Boston obviously is  shocked at this. Look at that right  there. And this is this is a dead ball  situation. This is not game play. Lexi,  I believe, had been whistled for the  foul. Okay, so you got fouled. This is  basketball. You all should be used to  that, especially since you pride  yourself so much on how hard you can  foul people. Lexi obviously is not out  there trying to hurt anybody. Lexi plays  defense and for this to happen to her is  disgusting. Now, I just told you that  what happened to Kelsey Mitchell was  given a flagrant one, which means two  shots and the ball.  They took a long time to review this  because they just want to give you time  to go eat lunch or make your bed or mow  the lawn or whatever.

So they came back and they did assess a  technical which is fascinating to me  honestly because to me that looked worse  how the other one is a flagrant one and  it needed to be but this one was a  technical.  A technical means you get one shot in  possession of the ball versus a flagrant  one where you get two shots in  possession of the ball. But how is this  less egregious than the previous one?  Whereas in the previous one, one could  argue that she was just clearing some  space of term. This to me looks like a  an act of retaliation because she had  been fouled.  So I just plugged in flagrant foul in  Google to see what it would come up  with. A flagrant foul versus a  technical. Google says a flagrant one  foul involves unnecessary physical  contact against an opponent while a  technical foul is for unsportsmanlike  conduct, non-cont infractions. I repeat,  non-cont infractions or administrative  issues that disrupt the game and then  the rest talks about the the the free  throw and the possession situation. So,  a technical, which is what Caleb McBride  was assessed, is for non-cont  infractions.  How in the world do we call what  happened to Lexi Hall  a hit that knocked her off her feet, had  her leg bent behind her, had her walking  away, and when she walked away, holding  her jaw, and we’re watching, thinking,  “Oh, God, please don’t let her jaw be  broken.” How is that considered non-cont  and just unsportsmanlike?

That from Kayla McBride was worse than  what happened with Jessica Sheepard on  the other end. It’s all bad though. The  things that go on in this league, I just  shake my head. And  the level  of physicality  that was allowed in this game versus  Friday’s game was definitely different  as was pointed out in the postgame press  conference.  Now, I got to talk about something else  because there are people who are livid  because they can’t fathom why the  Indiana Fever uh team will not  retaliate. I cannot fathom how you see  what you saw, particularly there with  Lexi, but perhaps even with what  happened to Kelsey.  How do you just stand there? And I know  there’s a a debate like there are some  people who are like, listen, they’re not  fighting people, which is one of the  reasons why we like the team because  they’re not out there trying to thug.

They’re not out there being like some of  the stuff we see. They play clean  basketball. They are respectable in  their in their approach. They’re not out  there trying to hurt people. They’re not  out there just trying to elbow somebody  because they got a foul or create space  by whacking that they’re they just don’t  do that. And I for one respect the team  because of that. That’s not the team’s  DNA. I don’t want it to be the team’s  DNA. So there are people who are like  that’s just not who they are. And we  respect that. Then there’s the other  group that says, “How do you not  retaliate in that situation? You I I  mean I know like people are like  horrified at what they just saw.” And  then there’s this place in the middle  where people are like, “Okay, I don’t  want the team out there fighting and  taking matters in their own hands. I  don’t I don’t want that.”

But at the  same time, the the something like turn,  get in someone’s face, have some words,  something so that you don’t just stand  there when what we saw just happened. I  know it’s a situation where, like I  said, it’s not in the team’s DNA and the  team needs to win games or it’s a wrap.  Right now with the standings,  this team not only needs to win, but  they need other people to lose. They  went from sixth place to eighth place  yesterday with that loss because Seattle  won and so did Golden State and Golden  State owns a tiebreak and it’s just so  so so tight. And I understand you don’t  want to mess around and get thrown out  of games and the whole thing. There’s  got to be some place in the middle where  maybe I’m not throwing fists,  but but I gota I got to make sure you  you understand that we’re that we can’t  have this. It’s  this league has a problem and the league  has no answer to the problem. I don’t  have anything more to say about it.  It’s infuriating.  So, Indiana will take on Seattle on  Tuesday according to this schedule. It  is a huge game as really every one of  them is. And so, I will catch you next  time, God willing. God bless you  abundantly.  [Music]