http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=2092737 Updated: June 25, 2005, 9:10 PM ET Near-melee resonates a day after gameAssociated Press MINNEAPOLIS -- One day after the benches emptied in a near-melee against the Washington Mystics, Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury insisted the incident already was history. "I haven't seen the tape. I haven't seen any of it," said Taurasi, who tangled with the Mystics' DeLisha Milton-Jones late in the second half of Tuesday's game in Washington. "The way it happened, it happened, I guess. I don't even remember it." With 1:44 left, Milton-Jones and Taurasi collided as the teams ran down the court following a Mystics basket, with both players hitting the floor. Taurasi got up and joined the Mercury on their next possession, while Milton-Jones lingered on the other end. When the Mercury went back on defense, Milton-Jones rushed Taurasi and cocked her fist as if to throw a punch, but Washington's Chasity Melvin intervened before a blow could be landed. Taurasi was given a technical foul and Milton-Jones was ejected, but after the game she accused Taurasi and her teammates of engaging in dirty play. "During the course of the game, they were getting some cheap shots," Milton-Jones said on Tuesday night. "This is what happened: After you make a shot, and you're running back to go on defense, somebody will run and just stop and give you a shoulder -- and that's blindside. You can't see it. You can't change directions to prevent it from happening. I'm not going to tolerate that." On Wednesday in Minneapolis, before Phoenix played the Minnesota Lynx, Mercury coach Carrie Graf defended her star player and her team, saying their style of play is not unusual in a league that's growing increasingly physical. "There's a lot of physical play in the WNBA, and I don't think we're the team that set the standard in physicality," Graf said. "Incidents like that are going to happen in a physical game. Players' emotions are high." While much of the attention after the incident focused on Taurasi, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 WNBA draft, Phoenix players pointed out that Milton-Jones has had skirmishes with the Mercury before when she played for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1999-2004. "We played against DeLisha a lot in the West, so we're pretty familiar with the fact that she's a pretty physical player, and she got upset," Mercury forward Kayte Christensen said. Graf went a step further: "DeLisha Milton's one of the most physical players in the league. I've got a huge amount of respect for her as a player. ... But she's world-renowned for being one of the most physical players on the floor." After Tuesday's game, Milton-Jones said she'd like to talk with Taurasi about how her style of play could endanger other players on the court. Asked Wednesday if she'd be receptive to meeting with her, Taurasi said, "I'll talk. I like to talk. I'll communicate with anyone. We'd probably get a great conversation out of it. DeLisha and I are, I would say, friends off the court. Any time we've been together in an off-the-court setting we've had no problems, so I definitely wouldn't carry that off the court." Lynx forward Tamika Williams, a college teammate of Taurasi's for two seasons at Connecticut, said she doesn't understand how Taurasi could have gained a reputation for dirty play. "I've never seen it," Williams said. "You hear 100 different stories, but for me, she's had a tough start. ... Most of her stuff has been more verbal, being frustrated with tough calls." Graf blamed the misconception on Taurasi's competitive drive and intensity. She also pointed out that Taurasi stayed calm when Milton-Jones charged her. "Diana Taurasi wasn't the one who went to go throw a punch," Graf said. "She stood back." --

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