Washington Wizards and Poland center Marcin Gortat has called for the NBA to soften the blow on impromptu fights that the league has been witnessing over the last few weeks.
In the last few days Evan Turner of the Indiana Pacers and Houston Rockets’ James Harden have gone nose-to-nose, while LA Clippers’ Blake Griffin and PJ Tucker had to be separated by the benches with the latter getting ejected for throwing a punch as Griffin, who was on the floor, turned around.
Gortat though hasn’t exactly condemned the actions of those four players in a strange.
“I would say I would loosen up a little bit the rules about the fighting fines. That’s what I would loosen up,” said the Polish international on ESPN.com.
“Because today you go to an ice hockey game, and the one thing they’re waiting for is a fight, you know what I’m saying?
“So if they could set it up something like that in the NBA. That if there are two guys and they have a problem, if they could just separate everybody. And these two people that have problem, if they could fight …”
Gortat knows the repercussions of fists being thrown in NBA games if by some miracle; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver chose to follow the Pole’s ideas. The Wizards big man thinks that as long as they don’t go overboard and the refs intervene, it will be fine.
“During the game. Quick, 15-20 seconds, throw few punches, then referees jump in and break this thing up,” he said.
“I think the game … these two guys, they resolved their problem. They’re both suspended and they’re leaving. But end of the day, they fix the problem between each other, fans are super excited, and I think that would be a pretty cool idea.”
Gortat had a little chuckle after his statement.
It’s a case of: if it works in the NHL – why not the NBA?
