Hawks’ Millsap: Wizards were playing MMA
Paul Milsap: “The difference in the game was we were playing basketball, and they were playing MMA.”
After the Washington Wizard’s Game 1 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs, Hawks star Paul Millsap had a complaint that illustrated the rise of mixed martial arts.
The difference in the game was we were playing basketball, said Millsap, as transcribed by Dan Steinberg for The Washington Post. They were playing MMA.
Wizards Coach Scott Brooks didn’t agree.
I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, said Brooks. I’ve been in many, many playoff games [that] were much more physical than that. Not saying that both teams didn’t play hard, it’s just different times. Different times.
Wizard’s star Marcin Gortat is a huge MMA fan, whose favorite fighters include fellow Poles Mamed Khalidov and Joanna Jedrzejczyk; he didn’t agree either.
No, it wasn’t even close to MMA, said Gortat. Like I said, I’m not going to get into what [Millsap] said. I truly don’t pay attention to what they say, I truly don’t pay attention to what the media say, I truly don’t pay attention to what my friends and my mom and my dad say, because they have no idea about basketball. When I see people telling me that Dwight [Howard] did this, this and that, at the end of the day, I know what this kid is gonna bring to the table and I have to guard him for at least three more games.
We were just physical. We came out ready to play. We had a few possession where we hit them during box outs or fighting for the ball, we were just pushing hard.
As an aside to Milsap, like boxing, you don’t play MMA.
