Should Stoudamire and Diaw be suspended?
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Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
The league or Stu Jackson?
He reps the league doesn't he?
Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
Heck, Stoudamire and Diaw rep the league. Reppin and thinkin are two different things. He thinks he's the league.
They are... Stern and his folks are judge and jury...been that way for a while.
JayRob
TigaPaw
The key word is ALTERCATION. If phoenix was smart, they would've made it an altercation by one of their scrub bench players throwing a punch or something or running onto the court, but they blew their chance once the play was over with.
If that had happened, Duncan would've been suspended, plain and simple.
People are letting emotion cloud their judgment when it comes to clearcut rules which have been consistent for TEN years.
Stoudemire and Diaw knew the rules and THEY hurt their team.
JayRob
TigaPaw
I have an idea for the suns that might help them.
Coach D'Antoni and all of the Suns need to show the world they have a sense of humor. Go out tonight and have seatbelts and shoulder straps on the bench. Have everyone buckle up.:lol: :lol:
Go Spurs!!!
Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
But Stoudemire has already stated that the players are dirty. Now when Horry did that flagrant foul, did you think that he was going to stay on the bench? And believe me, I do support that if the rule states that "if a player leaves the 'bench area' that they should be suspended". But enforce the rule equal. TD should have been suspended for leaving the "bench area", but TD is the golden child for the league. Look at what Stern and Jackson did to that ref that went up against Duncan.
JR
Well-Known Member
The Suns are about to play small ball and run the Spurs off the floor I believe. This may backfire on SA. Should be interesting.
MikeBigg
Well-Known Member
I was wondering if this means Barbosa goes into the starting lineup and the Suns play uptempo (even more than usual). Not too familiar with the Suns bench personnel, but I would probably go with Jalen Rose at the 3 spot and continue to bring Barbosa off the bench initially to make certain that Nash is fresh down the stretch. With Thomas playing the high post, Marion is now free to post up/use his quickness against the Spurs big men.
I watched the tape, and although there can be some speculation that Stoudemire was going on the floor to get involved, I can't say the same about Diaw. Next time it's played, check out his demeanor. Dude never seems to be riled up but more of a spectator. In fact, I don't think he ever actually came on the court but did advance down the sideline. On the replay I saw, he was standing watching the entire time. Oh well... it is what it is!
Suns by 5 tonite!
To be fair, that ref completely deserved what he got. Throwing players out of games for laughing at a call is not his job.
The "leaving the bench" rule has to go. Two guys are missing an important playoff game for leaving the bench and they didn't do anything. They didn't swing at anyone, they didn't grab Cheap Shot Bob, they did pretty much what Duncan did when he left the bench, but because there wasn't an "altercation" when Duncan left the bench, he plays and two important parts of the Suns lineup are on ice.
ToPdOg
Well-Known Member
I think the "leaving the bench" rule in it's current form as to go. True enough they did leave the bench, but they weren't anywhere close to being involved in the altercation. As some have said, rules are rules, but I don't think they're always applied fairly. Case in point, back when they had that brawl in Detroit between the Pistons and the Pacer's last season, pretty much the entire team left the bench, but not all of them were involved in the altercation. If you follow the rule to the letter, the entire team should've been suspended for "leaving the bench."
wahines
1_gsufan
I agree with that! In a matter of fact, The Detroit Bad Boys, Charles Oakley, Maruice Lucas would say, you call that a hard foul. They would think it is a joke. No one talks about the acting job Nash did or the Horry foul would have never happened if they would have called that foul on Nash or whoever it was that knocked Horry down under the basket. The Non Ballers Association (NBA) has become a joke of a league to watch.
ToPdOg
Well-Known Member
I agree. It's gone downhill since 1998 after Jordan retired the 2nd time.
Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
Acting job???? Dude, you think Nash would act and fall hard into the scorer's table hitting his head on the message board? Like I told the other poster, you get checked like that and come back and tell us if it was hard or not.
MikeBigg
Well-Known Member
Nash was off balance attempting to get past Horry, so he was already not "centered". When Horry bumped him that was enuff, but he put emphasis on the collision by "lifting" Nash with his forearm. Also remember that Horry outweighs Nash by a considerable amout... just looking at the two, I would say by at least 60lbs. He had no choice but to fall... What made it "worser" was the fact that he pushed him towards the scorer's table where there was no room to "right" himself. I can't believe folk actually try to dismiss this as a flop when it was clearly a hard push that lifted the man off his feet.
What's lost in all of this is the fact that Nash LED the Suns to a victory when a defeat seemed inevitable. The dude can play and the dude wins...point blank. Everytime the Spurs made a big shot to go up to 10, Nash seemed to make a play (couple of times it was a three) to keep the game within reach. Raja Bell, Marion, and definitely Thomas fed off this and contributed as well. But I give credit to Nash... when he keep competing the rest of the guys followed suit. Regardless of what some think... I label this cat as a winner!
Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
Hmmm..............
Like those obscene sentencing guidelines that bind the hands of judges and make them sentence people to life in prison for writing a bad check (Texas, you can look it up), the NBA has painted itself into a corner with its asinine stance on leaving the bench.
As David Stern's lieutenant Stu Jackson said, "No one here at the league office wants to suspend players any game, much less a pivotal game in the second round of a playoff series. But the rule, however, is the rule, and we intend to apply it consistently."
Robert Horry's shove of Steve Nash may just give the Spurs the title. (Bahram Mark Sobhani / Associated Press)
As if the league had nothing to do with the stupid rule in the first place. No, Stu, the league does want to suspend players. That's why it creates Draconian, letter-of-the-law rules in the first place. Any fair assessment of the activity following Horry's cheap shot ? and the conduct leading up to it ? would lead one to conclude that a suspension for Stoudemire and Diaw was disproportionately harsh. But why leave room for fair assessments when you can tie your own hands with truly moronic rules that leave no room for interpretation or mitigation?
The rule was created to deter those out-of-control melees that have marred postseasons past. But clearly, in this instance, it failed as a deterrent. Two of Nash's teammates sprang to his defense after seeing their most valuable player get viciously poleaxed with 18 seconds left as he tried to dribble out the clock.
Did they punch anyone?
No.
Did they shove anyone?
No.
Did they escalate the situation?
No.
They were merely turned around by the Phoenix coaching staff and led back to the "vicinity of their bench."
But the de facto penalty ? the end of the Suns' remarkable 61-win season ? was as severe as if they had just come out swinging. Which sends an inane message: If you've already left the bench, you might as well get your money's worth and land a few haymakers on the guy who just cheap-shotted your teammate.
The irony here is that the Spurs ? as always ? have been the antagonist in this chippy series. Horry's body check was just the latest in San Antonio's fusillade of, shall we say, extra-legal conduct.
Bruce Bowen has mastered the art of fouling his man fairly constantly in a manner where the home viewers see it, the announcers see it, his opponents feel it and only the officials are blithely unaware of the stealth beating he's administering.
Read Rest
How many championship teams in the past did NOT have an agitator like this?
Pistons had Rodman, Laimbeer and Mahorn...well basically the whole team.
Bulls had Rodman...
Rockets had Mad Max...
Lakers had Fox (opponents said he was dirty)
Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
That was before this ridiculous rule was instituted. Like I said earlier, "keep it in the middle of the road, cause you're swerving now".
That is WHY the rule was created... that and the Knicks-Heat brawl in I think 1999.
Dr. Phreeze
It is I...Yes it is...
1997
JayRob
TigaPaw
Did you mean winner or whiner?:lol:
ToPdOg
Well-Known Member
Winner or whiner, he beat the Lakers. :lol:
The Foundation
S.O.D.
I think this article sums up everything there is to say about the NBA and this situation.
As much as I'd love to condemn the NBA higher-ups for ruining the Spurs-Suns series, I can't jeopardize the chances of them fixing the 2007 Lottery for my beloved Celtics. We desperately need one of the top two picks or I'm going to develop a serious drinking problem. Those are the stakes. Now, you could argue that a serious drinking problem would inject some much-needed life into my column, and you might even be right. But I'd rather avoid this scenario.
So here's my defense on the NBA's behalf ...
You can't blame them for the Stoudemire-Diaw suspensions because they correctly interpreted a stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded rule. Can you blame them for having that rule in the first place? Yes. But you can't blame them for the actual interpretation -- after all, Stoudemire and Diaw did leave their bench during an altercation, just like Tom Brady's right arm was still coming down as Charles Woodson popped him in the Tuck Rule Game. Everyone knows about the leaving-the-bench rule. It's been around for more than a decade. It's the reason assistant coaches spin around during potential fights and hold their arms out like bouncers at a nightclub. It's the reason a really good Knicks team got bounced from the '97 playoffs (robbing everyone of a much-anticipated Bulls-Knicks Eastern Conference finals). It's also the reason why we haven't had a bench-clearing brawl since the rule was invented.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...portCat=nba&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
As much as I'd love to condemn the NBA higher-ups for ruining the Spurs-Suns series, I can't jeopardize the chances of them fixing the 2007 Lottery for my beloved Celtics. We desperately need one of the top two picks or I'm going to develop a serious drinking problem. Those are the stakes. Now, you could argue that a serious drinking problem would inject some much-needed life into my column, and you might even be right. But I'd rather avoid this scenario.
So here's my defense on the NBA's behalf ...
You can't blame them for the Stoudemire-Diaw suspensions because they correctly interpreted a stupid, idiotic, foolish, moronic, brainless, unintelligent, foolhardy, imprudent, thoughtless, obtuse and thickheaded rule. Can you blame them for having that rule in the first place? Yes. But you can't blame them for the actual interpretation -- after all, Stoudemire and Diaw did leave their bench during an altercation, just like Tom Brady's right arm was still coming down as Charles Woodson popped him in the Tuck Rule Game. Everyone knows about the leaving-the-bench rule. It's been around for more than a decade. It's the reason assistant coaches spin around during potential fights and hold their arms out like bouncers at a nightclub. It's the reason a really good Knicks team got bounced from the '97 playoffs (robbing everyone of a much-anticipated Bulls-Knicks Eastern Conference finals). It's also the reason why we haven't had a bench-clearing brawl since the rule was invented.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...portCat=nba&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
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