and mike golic..he is also on ur side... the rule is the rule and i totally agree that they have to be consistant and david stern was great in his explanation to patrick...but the actual rule is the one thats in question, not so much its application...and at the end of the season they might just have to revisit it...it just sucks how the turn of events unfolded...last 18 seconds of game 4...
I'd be very surprised if they do anything with the rule. Why should they? It makes sense. Don't leave the bench. No room for interpretation, etc. Maybe they should draw a line around the "bench area", so there is even less room for interpretation. A bright red line might not be a bad idea so that it is reinforced in the players' minds everytime they walk past it.
So here is what happens based on this precedent in this series. You take some flunky, end of the bench stiff, and hard found, drive Kobe, or Wade, Lebron, Duncan, etc. right into the ground right in front of his team's bench, right in front of it, and see if any player leaves the bench, and then have that player look at the bench and call the bench a bunch of pussies. Hell, get the end of the bench player to outright slug Dirk in the face, flatten him. Just to find out if the players on the bench can act like trained like dogs... It is ridiculous to expect players who play with such passion and emotion to then restrain that same emotion when they see a comrade being hurt maliciously.
3a....have you ever played organized hoops? Horry is a 15 year vet....all he had to do was reach in or give a bear hug and the refs stop the clock.....any one who has ever played hoops knows this...he knew exactly what he was doing...just like bowen knew EXACTLY what he was doing.....Hell, KOBE was suspended twice for flailing his arm out while shooting.!!
I don't like to get into personal experience, because anyone can say anything and you have no way of confirming it, but I will make an exception and tell you that I have played a lot of serious basketball. I know the difference between a cheap shot and a foul. In the Horry situation, what I would be looking for would be Horry sticking his knee out and trying to give Nash a deep thigh bruise. He didn't do that. The forearm thing looked pretty incidental to me. As for grabbing him, as i recall the game was still in doubt at that point, so I'm not sure they were trying to foul. He was trying to trap Nash against the sideline and Nash was determined to turn the corner. The Suns have been whining the whole series and they saw an opportunity to try to create an incident. Apparently I am the only person in America who saw it that way, but I'm used to swimming against the tide.
3a...i went to college with a partial scholarship for hoops...( i was thrown out in less then a year but thats another story ) here is the bottom line question: Q:why would you want to foul Nash in that situation? A: to stop the clock with 15 seconds to go and give your team a chance to get the ball back.....simple enough right? so if you KNOW your behind and you HAVE to foul to stop the clock......any sane and knowledgeable hoops player would probably try to do a slap away and take a shot at getting a steal....if your successful you get an easy basket AND stop the clock...if your not, they call a reach in foul and you accomplish what you wanted...you stop the clock....what did a 15 year veteran do?
exactly...he didn't even hold out a hand and even pretend to care that he knocked the lights out of him...he walked away