The legend of women’s basketball superstar Diana Taurasi is a mix tape of hoops exploits, tough-gal posturing and off-the-court embarrassments. On Thursday night, it was sealed with a kiss.
Taurasi got into a skirmish with Seimone Augustus in the opening game of the WNBA’s Western Conference semifinals between Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury and the Minnesota Lynx. Augustus’ tight defense prompted a shove from Taurasi, and the two players – teammates on the U.S. Olympic team and friends since their days on the high school amateur circuit – got into each other’s faces.
That’s when Taurasi, never known to be shy, planted a peck on Augustus’ cheek … and the whistles blew. Taurasi’s affectionate, tension-breaking gesture oddly drew personal fouls for both players from the referees.
Taurasi was incredulous at the call, but perhaps she should not have been: The league’s perennial leader in technical fouls is no stranger to being singled out by the officials. Taurasi led the WNBA in techs in five of the past six years, including this season, when she picked up nine in 32 games, resulting in two separate one-game suspensions. As the Wall Street Journal has pointed out, her rate of one every 3.5 games is up there with the battiest Rasheed Wallace seasons in the NBA.
Taurasi, a 31-year-old who grew up in Chino, Calif., won three consecutive NCAA titles during a decorated career at UConn, is a two-time champion and five-time scoring champ in the WNBA and owns gold medals from the past three Olympic Games.
Her ledger also includes a DUI bust in July 2009, for which she spent one day in jail on a suspended 10-day sentence, and a reported positive test for a banned stimulant while playing in Turkey in 2010, though she was later cleared of the doping allegation.