its official

[Brian]

FOR THE LAST TIME. WHAT THEY DID WAS NOT STUPID. THEY WERE CONCERNED FOR THEIR TEAMMATE AND INSTINCTIVELY MOVED TOWARD HIM AND STOPPED WHEN THEY SAW A CONFLICT BEGINNING.

THE ONLY THINGS STUPID HERE ARE THE RULE AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT WAS APPLIED.

Exactly.

it is a stupid blanket policy rule with no room for human emotion or intent.

For all of you who keep sticking to "the letter of the law" arguement, I would guess you have never played competitive sports at a high level.

Hell, even Pop-Warner kids first instinct after a cheap shot is to defend their teammate.

Amare went off human nature and instinct, and it took all of 2 seconds for common sense to kick in.

Besides that, HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING!

That rule is ok, the enforcement of it in this particular case is bullsh!t.

 

[ErikJoplin]

Guys, the rule has been hard and fast for YEARS. Do you not remember the Knicks/Heat? Why should the NBA let the Suns get by when they have enforced the rule consistently for a decade?

 

[Evil Ash]

how do you know his intent?!

intent is always hard to decipher - which is part of the reason why the NBA has been so strict with this - if a fight did break out duncan would of been suspended - however nothing happened so he wasn't on the court during an altercation

the league doesn't care why you were there, how long you were there, the intent of your actions once there

He was on the bench when a Elson gets knocked on his back. He then runs onto the court. WTF do you think he was there for? He wanted a better view?

He was going on in case there was a fight. Now the league has a precedent that if you come off the bench for an incident but will receive no punishment even if you are there just to start an altercation. So why shouldn't everybody rush the court whenever something happens? I mean they won't even call a T.

i hope this leads to an offseason modification of the rule - but then again it isnt the first time this has hurt the team that got clipped more than the team that instigated it and there hasn't been a change yet

It doesn't even matter anymore with what I've seen the past few years, the NBA has shown that they reward thugs. Like I said the league is dead to me and David Stern has proven to me he's a chickenshit.

 

[slinslin]

Start Banks and Jumaine Jones at make sure they take out Duncan or Parker for the series if the Spurs are playing them.

We might even get some Spurs off the bench suspended while doing it!

Someone else suggested the Fans should just flood the floor and not allow the NBA to play the game, what would the NBA do about that?

 

[MigratingOsprey]

enforcement in most cases has been the problem and the reason I don't like the rule

the league feels that if they show discretion then it could lead to ambiguity and calls of favorism

so instead they often punish those not involved, those that were hit with a cheap shot and those who had benevolent intentions - but at least they do it consistently

 

[Highpointer]

"Zero tolerance" application of rule shows no common sense

This is a blatently unfair ruling. This "zero tolerance" application of the rule reminds me of such examples as a school suspending an honor student when his mother accidentally leaves a butter knife in his lunchbox.

How could it be fair that a bit player for one team throws a dirty block into the opposing team's best player and attempts to injure him, and the team that is victimized loses two of its starters for the next game? Can't some common sense be applied?

 

[slinslin]

Guys, the rule has been hard and fast for YEARS. Do you not remember the Knicks/Heat? Why should the NBA let the Suns get by when they have enforced the rule consistently for a decade?

God shut up now.

Knicks/Heat? That was a BRAWL. Diaw and Amare never stepped on the floor during an altercation.

 

[Brian]

Guys, the rule has been hard and fast for YEARS. Do you not remember the Knicks/Heat? Why should the NBA let the Suns get by when they have enforced the rule consistently for a decade?

Why?

Do you seriously want an answer to that?

Can you not see the difference between the Knicks/Heat incident and this situation?

Never mind, I'm not going to waste my time.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

He was going on in case there was a fight. Now the league has a precedent that if you come off the bench for an incident but will receive no punishment even if you are there just to start an altercation. So why shouldn't everybody rush the court whenever something happens? I mean they won't even call a T.

maybe he wanted to yell about a no call - wouldn't be the first time a player has done it - and you can get a T for it if the officials notice - even if he had ill intentions those circumstances did not arise

if everyone rushed the court and something did happen - then all those people would be suspended for being on the court while something was happening - with potentially longer suspensions pending your level of involvement

 

[ErikJoplin]

The Suns could have capitalized this and put the dagger in the Spurs. Instead they turned it on themselves. Blame Amare & Boris.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

Why?

Do you seriously want an answer to that?

Can you not see the difference between the Knicks/Heat incident and this situation?

Never mind, I'm not going to waste my time.

not that much - charlie ward got slammed by PJ Brown - more knicks (and valuable ones at that) were suspended

 

[Evil Ash]

Guys, the rule has been hard and fast for YEARS. Do you not remember the Knicks/Heat? Why should the NBA let the Suns get by when they have enforced the rule consistently for a decade?

Common sense. By enforcing this it proves that you reward thugs.

Say for instance that Burke takes out Duncan's knees in the next game and guys like Ginobli and Parker got off the bench. In that case the Spurs would lose Duncan (due to injury) and Ginobli as well as Parker (for the enforcement of this ******* rule) and the Suns only lose Burke. Does that sound fair to you?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

The Suns could have capitalized this and put the dagger in the Spurs. Instead they turned it on themselves. Blame Amare & Boris.

I tried to warn you but you decided to keep trolling.

 

[Brian]

not that much - charlie ward got slammed by PJ Brown - more knicks (and valuable ones at that) were suspended

You're still here?

The Knicks/Heat turned into a BRAWL genius.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

i don't think a single person in here has stated that the rule is necessarily fair

 

[Gee!]

I bet that Stern doesn't even come to Phoenix for another 5 years, unless he is forced to.

This should be the Suns rally cry.. Win the trophey so the Suns fans can boo Stern..

 

[MonkeyMan22]

This is such ********. Stern is such a Whiskey Delta. Unbelievable. What an F-ing farce. Why not some flexibility? After all, they did manage to restrain themselves. Finally what about the integrity of the game? You’ve now handed the series to the Spurs and rewarded them for foul play. Even a total suspension on Horry for the series does not have near the impact that even loosing STAT for one game does. I certainly agree that particularly STAT should have been more cranial, but honestly how can you not expect guys react passionately to such a situation? I hope the Finals this year reach an all time low rating. Spurs vs. the Pistons, again…

MM


"Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered." -- Aristotle

 

[Evil Ash]

maybe he wanted to yell about a no call - wouldn't be the first time a player has done it - and you can get a T for it if the officials notice - even if he had ill intentions those circumstances did not arise

if everyone rushed the court and something did happen - then all those people would be suspended for being on the court while something was happening - with potentially longer suspensions pending your level of involvement

The league hasn't even punished Duncan after the fact. No T. No fine. No suspension.

Somehow I think the league would see the tape that is showing up on the internet but yet they've done precisely ****. They made one hell of a bed for themselves and have a set a real precedent for situations like this.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

You're still here?

The Knicks/Heat turned into a BRAWL genius.

and it was incited by the team that got punished the least

same thing - different scope - with players not involved in the brawl being suspended

so take away scale and you have one team instigating an altercation that leads to the other team having a star player suspended for being on the court, but not involved or near the event

yeah - it's really different..............................

 

[HooverDam]

Edit--oh, and I want to see blood on the floor in game 5, and not Steve's, either. Every moment the Spurs were out of a game this series, they've been delivering cheap shots; now the Suns have 48 full minutes of cheap-shot time, and they need to accomplish something with it.

Don't be silly, I'm the biggest Suns fan in the world, and I don't want them taking any cheap shots at the Spurs (or any other team). I felt so terrible last year when Bell clotheslined Kobe, **** like that doesn't belong in the league.

Hopefully Barbosa and Marion will have monster games in game 5 and the crowd can somehow will the Suns to win. If the Suns end up winning the series, and keep it clean, I think they'll come out looking a lot better than if they devolve into thuggery.

I'd rather take the high road and lose than take the low road and win.

 

[sunsfn]

Evil Ash,

Reading your sig has helped me smile in this crazy day of pro basketball.....Thanks!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Volare: Do you realize what I was doing at the age of seven?
Roland T. Flakfizer: I can imagine and you must be thankful you didn't go blind.
Volare: I was dancing professionally.
Roland T. Flakfizer: Whatever you call it. Flogging the carrot, polishing the cuestick, choking the chicken, clearing the snorkel...
----------------------------------------------------------------

 

[jbeecham]

Guys, the rule has been hard and fast for YEARS. Do you not remember the Knicks/Heat? Why should the NBA let the Suns get by when they have enforced the rule consistently for a decade?

Do YOU remember the Knicks - Heat and that it was an actual fight?

 

[F-Dog]

I felt so terrible last year when Bell clotheslined Kobe, **** like that doesn't belong in the league.

I felt bad too, because it was unbelievably stupid on his part. As it turned out, though, the results were entirely positive--another example of the league rewarding thuggery, I guess.

As far as "taking the high road", they did that in 2005. By now it's a question of how much they want to compromise.

 

[Evil Ash]

Evil Ash,

Reading your sig has helped me smile in this crazy day of pro basketball.....Thanks!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Volare: Do you realize what I was doing at the age of seven?
Roland T. Flakfizer: I can imagine and you must be thankful you didn't go blind.
Volare: I was dancing professionally.
Roland T. Flakfizer: Whatever you call it. Flogging the carrot, polishing the cuestick, choking the chicken, clearing the snorkel...
----------------------------------------------------------------

Brain Donors = one of the funniest movies ever created

 

[ActingWild]

you can't blame horry for what amare and diaw did. amare and diaw were the ones stupid enough to leave the bench area. horry gave nash a cheap shot and deserved to be suspended, but amare and diaw brought this upon themselves. if they would have restrained themselves like the rest of the suns bench players, they wouldn't be in this predicament.

You absolutely can blame Horry. If someone started beating your spouse, and you broke through a door to save them and then were arrested for breaking and entering, you wouldn't blame the abuser? You'd say "shouldn't have broken down that door."