Robert Horry, Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw got what they deserved.
Period.
The players were suspended for their part in Monday night’s fourth-quarter skirmish between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs.
Horry received a two-game suspension for his flagrant foul on Steve Nash with 18 seconds left in the game. The foul warranted an equally flagrant response by the NBA.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, however, didn’t see any harm in Horry’s foul.
“I’ve seen harder fouls,” Popovich said. “(Horry) had to foul. Steve was running down the sideline. He was there. He gave him a shoulder. He just wanted to foul him. There was nothing hurtful or intentional at all. I didn’t think it was a very big deal.”
But the NBA did.
Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni, who’ll be without two key players tonight, thinks his team got the short end of the deal.
“We have the most powerful microscopes and telescopes in the world in Arizona, (and) you could use those instruments and not find a shred of fairness or common sense in that decision,” D’Antoni said.
Stoudemire and Diaw deserve their one-game suspension because they violated NBA policy by leaving the bench when they moved toward the commotion at midcourt.
Here’s what’s in the rulebook:
“Any player who leaves the bench during a fight is automatically suspended for a minimum of one game and fined a maximum of $20,000; in addition to losing 1/82nd of his salary for each game, he is suspended.”
Stoudemire and Diaw knew (or certainly SHOULD have known) that leaving the bench would result in suspension.
As it stands, the rule is unreasonably inflexible. The owners, however, have the power to change it.
“But,” said Stu Jackson, NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations (disciplinarian), “the rule is what it is.”
3 Comments:
If this is fair then all we need are more enforcers on the court. If we stick to the letter of the rule then Tim Dunken and Bowen should also be suspended for one game because both of them stepped into the court earlier in the game. If Spurs wins this series they win it in shame!
Stu Jackson and David Stern, I too will not watch NBA anymore…. this suspension was a joke. ” Doing what is correct”? You mean following the letter of the law without room for interpretation? something like that? Horrible. You are tripping on your own rules. I’d rather watch a hockey game. In hockey the players fight, the anger is left on the ice and problems solve themselves. You guys thiink you guys are doing whats right but you must be fair. Surely you understand and can see that you cannot punish people for almost doing something. It has ruined and entire season of time I spent watching basketball. You have upset the balance in favor of a very good sportsman-like team. Is the message of the NBA that you can get away with DIRTY play???? That is what I see at this point.
Larry wants the whole world to only listens to him but let me say this - Spurs wins in shame tonight!
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