National Basketball Association

Daily Buzz: What if in-game fighting were allowed in the NBA?

Published Mar. 10, 2014 6:44 p.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

Marcin Gortat knows a thing or two about fighting. His father, after all, won two Olympic bronze medals in boxing, and the Washington Wizards center has been known to do a little boxing himself in the offseason.

So it probably does not come as too much of a surprise that the outspoken Gortat thinks the NBA should take the NHL’s lead and allow in-game fighting between players.

Gortat sat down for a Q&A with TrueHoop recently, and when the subject of NBA rule changes came up, Gortat wasted no time advocating for fisticuffs.

“I would say I would loosen up a little bit the rules about the fighting fines,” Gortat told the site. “That’s what I would loosen up. 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 ... during the game. Quick, 15-20 seconds, throw few punches, then referees jump in and break this thing up. ... 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 (chuckles).”

The chances that Gortat’s pitch is ever realized are about as good as the big man’s odds of replacing John Wall as the Wizards’ starting point guard. But it’s certainly interesting fodder as the regular season winds down, and I know Gortat — or maybe Jermaine O’Neal — would be one of the last guys I’d want to go toe to toe with should his plan ever pan out.

Now, for some links:

• Among the others I wouldn’t want to fight? This women’s basketball player in Finland:

• And Jordan Nolan of the LA Kings, who unleashed a mean sucker punch in a game against Edmonton:

• Rashard Mendenhall wrote about his decision to retire from football at 26.

• Which college basketball arenas have the worst cell phone service?

• St. Joseph’s University is offering a Fundamentals of Bracketology class.

• Aaron Rodgers either has a doppelganger or an alter ego:

• Wait for it…:

• Giancarlo Stanton hit a baseball about a million feet Monday afternoon:

• The Iowa State student section flopped in honor of Marcus Smart:

• OK, this is pretty cute:

• The LA Kiss arena football team unveiled its uniforms:

• A Canadian pizza place is attempting to use pizza to lure Ervin Santana to the Blue Jays.

• Trevor Bell of the Cincinnati Reds honored his grandfather with a clown tattoo.

• A transgender athlete is suing CrossFit for not letting her participate in competitions as a female.

• Real or fake?:

• There are bad line changes, and then there is this display put on Sunday by the Florida Panthers:

• Hook ‘em horns?:

• The Fresno Grizzlies will wear these bad boys later this year:

• A Minnesota high school wrestler lost his state championship match, then congratulated his opponent’s father, who is dying of cancer.

• Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks says Kevin Durant could score more points if he wanted to.

• A skydiver in Florida collided with an airplane. Fortunately, everyone was OK.

• It’s nice to see good sportsmanship in professional sports every once in a while:

• Mr. Met joined Twitter and is already being harassed by other mascots:

• A Nebraska basketball player proposed to his girlfriend on senior night:

• Barry Bonds is looking svelte:

• Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds showed off some hoops skills at a Globetrotters game in Philadelphia:

• Here’s Maryland football coach Randy Edsall doing the Dougie:

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