DiJonai Carrington wasn't all smiles after a historic game
BOSTON — The Connecticut Sun and the Los Angeles Sparks made history Tuesday night by playing the first-ever WNBA game at TD Garden.
But Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington believed the WNBA dropped the ball by not promoting a game of that magnitude enough.
Carrington went to social media prior to the game to vent and then doubled down on her comments by calling out the league after leading Connecticut to a hard fought 69-61 win over the Sparks.
“I’m going to keep it real all the time and I felt like Connecticut as a franchise is historically disrespected,” Carrington said. “Sometimes if you want something you got to go out there and do it yourself, so that’s what I did for us. I think that there could have been a lot more publicity or promo from the top. Connecticut had announced that we were having this game probably almost a year ago, maybe. I don’t know. Sometime right after last season, so there was ample time to do what needed to be done.
“But it didn’t matter anyway because they showed up and it was sold out, we got the dub, so I guess my tweet worked.”
The home of the Boston Celtics was sold out with 19,156 fans attending the contest, which was played just over 100 miles from the Sun’s home arena.
The game was broadcasted locally on NBC Sports Boston, but that even irked Carrington, who tallied a game-high 19 points on 8-for-17 shooting in the win. She believed that a much bigger audience should have been able to watch the game. ESPN, which partners with the WNBA, showed a fantasy football draft on ESPN2 during the time of the game.
“And the game should have been on a national television broadcast,” Carrington said. “You shouldn’t have to pay for any type of subscription to see a game that is this historic in my opinion. I’m biased.”