Thuggery Wins, Fans lose
Amare and Boris out a game, Horry out two.
posted by Hersey @ 4:20 PM
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Amare and Boris out a game, Horry out two.
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28 Comments:
This is the lamest day in NBA history. The Spurs benefit from a dirty play. Baron Davis bows Fisher in the face and gets no suspension. Dirk gets the MVP after a terrible playoff performance. Way to go NBA.
You're right, this is a sad day. But you're crazy (or maybe just young and immature like Amare) if you think anyone will benefit from this. Assuming the Spurs win the series--which is still in question--the vitory will be as tarnished as Dirk's MVP trophy.
Trophies aren't tarnished. No one will put an asterisk next to the Spurs title if they in fact go on to win this series and the next two. Which is sad, because the Spurs don't deserve it, and have shown in this series the lowest level of sportsmanship I have ever seen.
The issue is that Stu Jackson admitted in his quote that he doesn't believe in fairness when he says "It's not a matter of fairness, it's a matter of correctness, and this is the right decision at this point in time."
Which is hilarious because the concept of whether this is the "right" decision should be based on its fairness, and thus its correctness. But apparently Stu Jackson and the rest of the NBA execs are idiots.
I guess we can't accuse the NBA of being only about money. It's about rules.
Regardless of the circumstances and the continuing precedent for the intelligence of using goons. The NBA would rather have an inferior product than allow someone to break a rule.
The ruling by the letter of the law is fair. In the heat of the moment- Boris and Amare walked too far whether it was toward a fallen teammate or the little scuffle. In the incident with Duncan and Bowen walking on the court there was no confrontation just a possible injury.
Protecting the integrity of the game is all Stu Jackson and David Stern care about. That's what makes it so easy for them to make this call despite the clear competitive advantage they've given the Spurs.
Inconsistent officiating isn't a concern, cheap shots and physical play aren't concerns either. There will be no violence on an NBA basketball court.
I can't help but think about Zinedine Zidane whose last match was ruined by a goon who got him to lose his cool in the World Cup Final and commit the mostly widely televised act of violence in human history.
With all the flopping, international players, untouchable officials and inept governing body- It's clearly Stern's goal to turn the NBA into soccer.
So now the question is whether last year's Suns (w/o Boris) can beat the Spurs in a one game showdown.
Buck up.
I sense a double-double from Burke, and Hack-a-Duncan will be employed (via Marks, Pike and Burke). Get a little Guinness into Burke and we can see him go IRA all over the Spurs.
Victory will be all the sweeter (pass the kool-aid).
Sarcasm aside, this season has really made the NBA look terrible. This is the icing though. This really sapped my enthusiasm after a great game and it just feels wrong. I really hope they can pull it off tomorrow.
Those old rules from the 90s are getting us in this series. The Magic Johnson blood rule and now the Greg Anthony 'leave the bench' rule. Yet they don't call hand checking on Bruce Bowen. Strange.
Gotta adapt and overcome.
I hope the crowd brings the noise instead of acting like lame rich people. This might be the most emotional game in Suns history.
This was a brilliant tactical move by Horry and Amare, Boris and the league fell for it hook line and sinker.
Two words for Amare...grow up. To all of the Spurs apologists out there, y’all couldn’t hang with Phoenix without daddy Stern’s help…period.
And one final thought for the NBA before I move on...thank you Robert Horry for demonstrating the clear bias that exists and has existed against the Suns in the playoffs for years...and F%$K You!
Okay, now to the future, I would hate to be the Spurs on May 16, 2007. The nearly 20K Suns fans aren't going to be easy to deal with tomorrow night. Last year when Raja WWE'd Kobe and the league retaliated, they pummeled the Lakers, and the Lakers were a better team last season.
Although anecdotal, it shows the Suns' character.
Against my conscience, I am going to watch the series and be a good fan. I agree with the "adapt and overcome" comment. If there were any team who could do it, this year's group is it.
Go Suns.
I guess my attitude toward each game is usually wrong. Game 1 broke my spirit, so I thought "I have won the victory over myself, I love the Spurs" and assumed they would sweep. Before game 4, I felt optimistic for no good reason. I also feel good about game 5, because since the Suns should be expected to lose, they might play like they *have* nothing to lose, and if they win, it would be an achievement probably outstripping anything from last season.
I'd love to see the bench used. If Banks is the great defender and they say he is, he could shut down Tony Parker, not that Shawn Marion can't. But who would he sub for? He's a guard, but why would he spell Bell or Nash? Bell doesn't come out much, and Banks can't spell Nash because he's not a good point guard. And Piatkowski? For once, there has been a reason not to play him: the Spurs guard the perimeter, and he's a perimeter shooter.
Burke could spell Thomas, and if he can't control Duncan, he could keep fouling--didn't Zei or Hersey say Duncan is a "bricklayer" at the line? But because Mike D'Antoni appears to be a pigheaded idiot (the clincher was his unwillingness to start KT in game 1), he's more likely to ignore the bench and make Nash, Bell, Marion, Barbosa and Thomas play 48 minutes.
I've wondered for a long time what happened to Jumaine Jones. He doesn't even get a DNP in the box score. Jim Jackson, anyone? Or could Jones have a bad attitude because he doesn't get to play?
Let's move on and stop whining. I think the small lineup CAN beat em in 1 game. This is no time to be feeling sorry for the Suns. They can do it!
I agree, and meant to say that in my above post. It will be harder than necessary, because of coach D'Antoni's intransigence, but there's hope.
This is all James Jones fault. He should have started a fight with Elson when Duncan and Bowen stepped inbounds.
Jalen Rose should break Bowen's leg, he's probably going to retire anyway, better to retire as a hero.
Bruno
David Stern is a Racist Pathetic Fool. First the uniform rule, then the age limit and now this. The are blenches cleared regularly in babseball and its no big deal but once a couple of negroes do it then its an act of violence. What a joke.
I'm not watching game five. This is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever seen.
Let's see, reward a piece of shit like Robert Horry and the Spurs for a suspendable foul.
Send the end of the bench out at the end of a game and tell them to send the star player into the third row. Will we start to see more tactical thuggery like this from now on?
For the NBA and their terrible decision making, I hope so. I hope teams start throwing people down in an attempt to get people on the opposing team suspended.
Robert Horry committs a ridiculous foul and is rewarded for it. Greg Popovich and the dirty Spurs are a fucking joke. They got scared and resorted to that.
Oh its a rule you say?
In the Knicks Nuggets brawl earlier in the season a TON of players from both teams were off the bench in the action who didnt get suspended but I guess that's just not the same case.
Earlier in game 4 Bowen and Duncan were off the bench but that wasn't enough of an 'altercation?'
Fuck you David Stern and the NBA.
I listened to Stu Jackson on both 910 and 620 this morning. He said that the rule is a "bright-line" rule and is one of "strict liability," meaning that if you leave the bench during an altercation, you're suspended.
Well, okay, but let's look at "altercation" and "immediate vicinity" again. When he was asked for a definition of each term, he gave HIS definition. Therefore, by giving HIS definition, players and coaches are left to use their ESP as to what he means by these words. In order to create a "bright-line" or "strict liability" rule, these terms should be clearly defined.
In his defense, he gave a pretty good definition (IMO) of "altercation." Notwithstanding my grievance regarding the inherent vagueness and subjective nature of the use of HIS, unwritten definitions, the defintion did make sense. See, Stu, you can exercise judgment!
I can't remember the specifics of that definition right now, but it sure made a lot of sense. Per this definition, the Duncan-on-the-court incident in the second period would not warrant discipline.
However, let's get picky on defintions, Stu, if it's such an easy rule to read. When asked what "immediate vicinity" meant, he said, "Well, 20 to 25 feet is not the 'immediate vicinity.'" He then went on to say that one foot away from the bench would be the "immediate vicinity." This means that "immediate vicinity" is somewhere between 1 and 25 feet from your seat on the bench. That is anything but a clear rule.
From here on out, an essential part of every team's staff needs to be a Stu Jackson mind-reader so they know how far off the bench the players can be.
Some of these comments are beyond ridiculous.
Racist? Against who?
The fact is that both Diaw and Amare only have themeselves to blame for being suspended.
Sucks for Phoenix, but those are the rules and they have been in place for quite some time.
Also, despite what you may think, no one seems to bring up the fact that although it was a cheapshot, Nash did flop. It looked much worse than it actually was because of him flopping.
Perhaps some of you weren't around back then, but in the 80's era, that would have only been called a "hard foul". No more, no less..
It's a shame that something like that happened, but it did and it's time to move on. Even though we all know if Phoenix ends up losing this series, they will cry and whine about it until further notice.
But it won't change the fact that both Amare and Diaw only have themselves to blame.
Sure that's all fine and well that they have a good explanation but the problem still remains that the ruling is inconsistant.
Like I said earlier, go back to the Knicks Nuggets brawl earlier this year. There were tons of players off the bench involved in the altercation who were not suspended.
Why weren't they suspended?
Someone at the NBA had to make a judgement call because if they did suspend everyone there would be nobody left from either team to play the following games!
They looked at the situation, looked at who was directly involved and who wasn't, regardless of whether they were off the bench or not, and chose to suspend only those directly involved in the fight.
Now the NBA can't make a judgement call on this situation when neither Boris nor Amare got involved in the altercation? They would rather screw the Suns over on a bitch move from the Spurs and effectively give them a HUGE advantage on this next game?
They would rather REWARD thuggish behavior that starts these altercations than look at the situation logically and say, no the Suns shouldn't be punished for something the losing team instigated?
This is a huge load of bullshit and if I were D'Antoni I'd have Pat Burke clip Ginobili, Duncan or Parker and send them to the ground hard with intent and see who gets off the bench.
Would the Suns be rewarded for intentionally trying to hurt their players?
No the Suns would not be rewarded like the Spurs have been.
This ruling is infuriating and David Stern definitely took a piss in the Suns Gatorade yesterday. I like how he bitched out of coming to Phoenix and is going to Cleveland tonight. I hope New Jersey has Collins crunch LeBron into the scorer's table right in front of the Cavs bench. I doubt we'll see Wise LeBron.
If the Suns do anything dirty, I bet the league would come down on them in unprecedented fashion. The NBA is a joke. This is the same league that fines guys for swaying during the national anthem. The Suns did get screwed, the NBA is wrong and everyone in this city/state is pissed.
I'm going to watch the game and I hope that the 19K in the stands turn into the nastiest assholes in America tonight. They better ride the Spurs and the officials nonstop. They better dwarf those yellow-shirt wearing Raider fans in Oakland. The crowd has to be a factor tonight because it will help the role players elevate their game.
I really don't want this season to end like this.
Anonymous posting at 7:32 AM, get a life. No one brought up race here except you. As for David Stern, to actually know he's a bigot, you'd have to be in his head. He cares about money; that's indirectly what the dress code and age limit were about. Whoever called David Stern "daddy Stern" is right, and Dennis Rodman pointed that issue out a long time ago in his book.
By the way, everyone, I'm Josh, and I posted the "I guess my attitude toward each game is usually wrong" message. I'll register one of these days.
First of all, I would like to say that I sympathize with Horry and all of the spurs. After watching all the games against the Suns very closesly, I have concluded that the Suns are the ones who have more likely been playing "dirty". If you look closesly at game three in the second quarter, Robert Horry was knocked down, actually pushed, first by their #40 and then later by Staudamire. There are alot of "little" dirty plays that go un-called that the Suns commit on the Spurs. Same thing in game four, if you watch what is going on away from the ball, You can really begin to see how A six time world champion could "commit" such a foul. Horry has class, and always has had class. I really don't believe that Horry would just do it on purpose to be a jerk. He did it for a reason, He is frustrated at the terrible officiating. That is not "whining", that is the truth. You can also go back and watch Timmy get knocked down right in front (away from the ball ) of the ref, and no whistle.
I believe that the punishment is actually a little harsh. A flagrant one would have been sufficiant, maybe a one game suspension. However, I feel that both Bell, and Nash got one off, for going after Horry after the fact. Who really, I mean really, displays poor unprofessional qualities in that situation. Like Pop said, "it was a hard foul" and thats all it was.
GO SPURS GO!!! I still belive that the Spurs are the most "professional" and the classiest team in the NBA. They display humility, and strength, when they get "hacked" by their opponents. Now, finally, they are beginning to "toughen" up and play like everyone else. Only now they think it is "dirty" because it is uncharacteristic, but they are only doing what everyone else is doing. All that said. I understand why Horry commited that hard foul.
If by classy you mean, 'dirty thugs,' sure I'll buy that!
Evidently having a 'defense first' attitude in the NBA means you get more non-calls.
I'm not buying that classy Spurs Kool-Aid. No team is classy when they face a team that is just as good or better. All the rough stuff will come out. Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry have clearly shown they are willing to play dirty to gain an edge. Duncan gets away with murder too. I used to respect the Spurs but fuck em and I'll be glad when they fall.
(Josh again) Duncan is dirty? Disregarding that he got off the bench on Tuesday, I didn't think he played like Bowen.
hey hersey, many of my friends have tried to post on your site, but their messages don't get posted. Apparently you don't like what they have to say about the Spurs, so we're deleting your internet address. We dislike censorship.
take that bitches!!
To the Anon at 7:59
Which site are you referring to? I write here and on my Ball Club site. I don't delete comments unless they are robot spam or my own if it's loaded with typos. I like comments from fans of opposing team.
No use explaining if you aren't reading anymore I suppose.
Look, winning a championship means overcomming the officiating, the so called "dirty play" and earning the name champion. The Spurs have done this before with 3 championships. This year is no different. So, my advice to you is to stop your whining, and complaining. Whether it's the Suns or Spurs, the better team will win this series, period. The bad calls all even-out over a 7 game series - its not the officiating that will win or lose a championship for the Suns. If you want to blame the officiating or David Stern, go watch figure skating. I'll bet all the whiners are the ones who have never played the game or any sport for that matter. grrrrr!
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