Liberty players, coaches lock arms for anthem; 2 Mercury players kneel

— -- New York Liberty coaches and all but one player interlocked arms as a show of solidarity, and two Phoenix Mercury players and one Liberty player knelt during the national anthem prior to the teams' playoff game on Saturday night in New York.?

The Mercury players, Mistie Bass and Kelsey Bone, also knelt before the team's win over Indiana on Wednesday. The Liberty's Brittany Boyd sat on the bench with her head bowed during the anthem Saturday.

Athletes from around the nation have joined in kneeling during the anthem at various sporting events as part of a protest movement to call attention to racial injustice around the country. It was sparked?by San Francisco 49ers?quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to sit during the anthem in preseason games this year.

There was no audible response to the Mercury players' protest from the crowd at Madison Square Garden. Bass was among the most outspoken players in the league earlier this year during a controversy in which WNBA players were initially fined for wearing T-shirts during warm-ups that supported the Black Lives Matter movement. The fines were later rescinded.