Aces' Wilson T'd up for confronting fan, fumes over 'unacceptable' behavior

INDIANAPOLIS -- Aces center A'ja Wilson received a technical foul after confronting a fan at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday night during a 99-89 loss to the Indiana Fever on Tuesday in Game 2 of their first-round series. The incident happened with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter after Indiana's Sophie Cunningham was called for a foul on Wilson. As Cunningham protested the foul, a fan seated behind the baseline stood up and pointed at Wilson. Wilson then stepped toward the fan and said, "You don't point at me, you don't point at me." As the fan started to sit back down, Aces players Cheyenne Parker-Tyus, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young came over to pull Wilson away, as did Las Vegas' Kierstan Bell, who left the bench to do so. The fan was escorted out of the arena bowl but later was allowed back in and took his seat. In a statement released later Tuesday, the Fever said arena security spoke with the fan involved and witnesses and allowed him to return because "there was no violation of the Fan Code of Conduct." In the Aces' postgame news conference, Wilson called the fan's actions "unacceptable" and said she was surprised he was allowed to return to his seat. "I try to play my game ... but if I am just walking, just got the foul, I'm chilling and I see a man come at me, taking steps toward me and pointing at me, I don't give a damn what you said," she said. "I don't give a damn how you said it, the tone. That is unacceptable. You don't step toward me. You never should sit and point at me. That there is unacceptable." Wilson said she apologized to her teammates for receiving a technical, "but it's just certain things that I'm not going to allow anymore." "You don't know me at all," she said. "To come and step toward me and point at me and say anything ... you don't have to like me, you don't have to love me. You can hate me with all your heart. But you don't know me. But I guarantee you will respect me." Wilson, speaking with Aces coach Becky Hammon in the hallway after the players' news conference, reiterated her feelings about the incident with the fans, telling the coach, "I don't care what you say to me, but you aren't going to step toward me and point at me." She added to Hammon: "No way he does that to LeBron [James]." Hammon was asked her reaction to the incident at her postgame news conference. "I didn't exactly see what happened," Hammon said. "I kind of saw the aftermath. I've never seen A'ja Wilson go like that. So whatever was done, I can tell you she felt very disrespected in that moment. I've never seen her really react like that, ever. So whatever it was, it doesn't have any place, I don't think, in an arena. "There's rules and procedures. I think there's a certain etiquette that both players and fans need to abide by, but clearly the lines get crossed, and it seems to happen here [at Indiana]. I can't speak specifically as to what was said or what was done. But I can speak to the character of our players, and the stuff that they deal with. The disrespect -- whether that's a word or an action, a gesture -- should be addressed appropriately. That's not my job. It's the job of this arena. So I assume they are following protocol." A WNBA spokesman said after the game that the incident would be reviewed but had no immediate comment. Tuesday night wasn't the first time an Aces player has complained about fan behavior at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. In a regular-season game Aug. 6 between the Aces and Fever, two fans were escorted from their courtside seats after Young complained to a referee that they had been "chirping" at her all game. Neither of the fans were deemed to have violated the Fan Code of Conduct and were not ejected from the arena. Game 3 of the Aces-Fever series will be played Thursday at Las Vegas. ESPN's Katie Barnes contributed to this report.