robert horry's foul was not that bad. getting hit with a forearm in your chest isnt going to break anything or ruin anyones career. plus nash is tiny so when he gets pushed it looks exagerated. if horry did that while nash was in midair, then it would have been a dirty foul. if horry was aiming for nash's face, it would have been a dirty foul. horry simply gave a hard playoff foul, perhaps a flagrant one, but i wouldnt call it dirty. and too bad the warriors are out. the jazz are just as boring to watch as the spurs.
tim duncan did not violate the rule...i repeat TIM Duncan did not violate the rule...there has to be an altercation ..in tim duncans according to stu jackson..there was no altercation when he stepped unto the court...i believe the rule should be changed and should only include people coming off the bench which make matters worse ( ie. throw a punch etc etc. ) . That being said Stoudimaire and Dia did absolutely nothing.
i hope it does hurt the ratings...I am one disapointed fan. they will lose a combined 31 points per game from stoud and dia...thats absolutely wrong. To think that this may have been avoided had the league nipped all this in the butt by ejecting bowen and his bag of dirty tricks...this is what this is really all about...BOWEN and his dirty way of playing...eventaually human nature just wants to crack someone in the head...
this will most certainly go back to the drawing board come the end of the season....I can assure you the outrage will be huge if phx loses...the rule will be changed..I would put money on this...
The rule will be changed. This is nutz. I don't want to see a bunch of scared players, afraid to defend their fellow players glued to the bench if there is a real problem. You know it is strange. In hockey, the fans love the fighting, most fans love to see two big linemen in the NFL smacking each other around, we see brawls all the time in baseball...but in the NBA (where mostly they chicken fight) it is going to drive away fans? I know people don't want to hear this, but I think it has a racial overtone to it. The penalty should occur for actual involvement in a fight, not for having an instinctual reaction to leap up when you see your fellow play checked into the boards. Trying to restrain that reaction is unnatural. Why can guys on the court push each other around or try to restrain their fellow players, but a guy on the bench has to sit there and do nothing after his guy was abused by a thug? If this event had happened that Kurt Thomas had crashed Parker in to the boards so close to the San Antonia bench, I doubt that Duncan if, on the bench would be able to sit still and not leap off the bench. Hell, he did that earlier in the game with the undercut of Elson. Bad rule, bad enforcement, and may well ruin the only series worth watching.
\ this might just happen tonight...stay tuned...a tim duncan ejection or a bowen crakced rib would be just about right for a payback...
I have to agree with you. When I saw the replay last night, I was surprised after reading so much here about horry creaming him. I saw Horry trying to close off the sideline and Nash trying to get by him. I'm not so sure that Nash didn't try to make it look worse by taking a dive. At most it was a hard fould that didn't justify even a one game suspension. If that is a suspension, why not the same when that guy got undercut and flipped on his head after a dunk? Why not when Stoudamire nearly took out ginobli's eye? I don't buy the idea that Phoenix is a clean team getting mugged by the Spurs. Phoenix is every bit as physical, and the Spurs players have the cuts and bruises to prove it. As for Nash's cut nose, that was clearly a simultaneous move by both players. The other guy could just as easily have gotten cut. It was unfortunate, but I think it was clearly inadvertent.
I don't have a problem with physical play, but the last thing the NBA needs to do is look to the NHL for guidance. A league like the NBA filled with wannbe gansta thugs needs to do everything possible to prevent this type of bench-clearing incident. These immature, irresponsible players have no self-control and it is up to the league to enforce a zero tolerance policy. Another Detroit brawl and the league is in real trouble with fans and TV. Personally, I think the rules are about right, although there is always room for improvement in the application. A guy who jumps up and gets on the floor when there is a confrontation should be suspended. If anything, the league needs to make the penalties more severe, such as a lifetime ban for any player going into the stands and assaulting or threatening a fan. I've noticed the officials have stopped calling technicals on guys who act up after getting a foul called on them. I wish they would start Tee'ing these morons up. The last thing I want to see is some asshole swinging his arms around and running to half court after a routine foul call. Tennis was lucky to get rid of John MacEnroe, the NBA will be a better place when Rasheed Wallace is gone and they should make it clear that they are not going to tolerate another 'Sheed.
im sorry but what happened in san antonio is a great example of why this rule needs to be changed...not one of the players that left the bench threw a punch...how can they justify a suspension?? they can most difinitely say they are following the guidelines...but that doesnt make it just...when this rule was implemented there where blows thrown and people got hit...thats why this rule came about and what happened in game 4 is the reason they should revisit the actual rule....the fans get the shaft here and also phx...not the instigator of the action hapaboy brings up a great point....if you are losing, just bitch slap one of the opposing players and hope that you snag a big fish...
This from a blog, which shows what could happen... Stu Jackson, as reported by the AP, addressed the various "Get Out of Jail Free" cards people like me were trying to give the Suns: * The "Amare Stoudemire was checking into the game" theory: "I've not seen a player report in quite that way," Jackson said. * The "Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen were on the court in the second quarter when Francisco Elson and James Jones got tangled up" theory: "Both players got up," Jackson said. "There was no altercation, and they ran down to the other end of the court." Then: A TrueHoop reader emailed a great point -- by this logic, if James Jones had noticed that Duncan and Bowen had wandered on the court in the second quarter, he should have immediately decked Francisco Elson. There's your altercation. Mr. Commissioner! Presumably Jones, Duncan, and Bowen would have all been suspended for Game 5 -- a big win for Phoenix.