Dear Suns fans,
I regret that the best playoff series in many years has been spoiled by the aftermath of Robert Horry's foul.
I wanted to express myself as well as some Spurs fans who simply cannot voice our feelings here in San Antonio without fear of reprisal.
The fact that my comments has now resulted in a thread on a spurs website, I feel it is only proper that I no longer express myself here.
Parting words:
I honestly feel that the suspensions could have been avoided very simply without having to amend the rule.
From my vantage point, it could very easily have been said that the two players stepped onto the court before the fight between Horry and Bell. At the very least, the evidence to the contrary is very slim to non-existent. No camera angle was ever produced that could show without any doubt that the two men came onto the floor after the fight occurred.
The problem is the league put the burden of proof onto the Suns to prove a negative, i.e., that the men did NOT step onto the floor when the fight occurred. In this country, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
I know that is the rule in a court of law.
But this same semblance of fairplay and justice should have been followed in a matter as important as this case. The league was going to strip a team of two important players. It would have been fair to make the league prove the men guilty by substantial evidence instead of requiring the men to prove their innocence. Again--no video ever revealed the fact the men stepped onto the court AFTER the fight. If anyone can produce a link to the contrary, then I will stand corrected. I have viewed the video many times. The videos usually are not able to depict the men in conjunction of the Horry/Bell fight. They have separate videos that show only:
1. The men stepping briefly on the court
2. The Bell/Horry fight.
There is no video that showed which came first. This was the very essence of the debate and went to the heart of the rule.
QUOTE]
Ah, but there is a video.
It comes from the backboard camera. It clearly shows Amare and Diaw heading to see to Nash before Cheap Shot Bob threw his elbow at Raja. It shows a perfect angle of the length of the court. It was even more obvious than in any other video that both players were heading directly towards Nash and when Cheap Shot Bob threw the elbow, both players stopped and retreated towards the bench. They retreated on their own and then the coaches grabbed and led them back to the bench. They showed this veiw on ESPN. Stern must have seen this video as well.
That is absolutely amazing.
My whole theory was that no evidence existed to indict the two players.
If you are correct, then this is even worse.
It would mean that there was conclusive evidence that the players should have been exonerated.
It is bad enough when no evidence exists, but someone is found guilty.
It is even worse when evidence does exist to exonerate someone, which is nevertheless ignored.
I have not seen that video you speak of. If anyone has it, could you post it?