Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi fined for inappropriate contact with official in WNBA Finals Game 2

Diana Taurasi’s late game action has gotten her into some trouble.

Taurasi, who was recently voted the league’s greatest in its 25-year history, has been fined $2,500 by the WNBA for “making inappropriate contact with a game official,” head of WNBA League Operations, Bethany Donaphin, announced Thursday.

The Mercury, who beat the Chicago Sky 91-86 in overtime to even the WNBA Finals and one game each, had been in the thick of it with the Sky all game. At the 5:52 mark of the second quarter, the Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham and the Sky’s Kahleah Copper got tangled up chasing down a rebound.

The two both ended up on the floor, but when Copper got up, she started to chirp at Cunningham and stood over her. The situation looked like it might escalate. A referee got between the two.

The Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot, whose was closest to Copper, started to pull her away. Taurasi, meanwhile, was making her way to Cunningham. Taurasi, while trying to get to Cunningham, shoved the referee out of her way.

After the game, basketball pundits took to social media to call on the league to take action for Taurasi’s behavior towards the referee, with some wanting commissioner Cathy Engelbert to suspend the All-Star guard for Game 3.

Game 3 will take place in Chicago in a sold out Wintrust Arena at 9:00 p.m.