And Scola could have needed facial reconstructive surgery had Love's foot landed a little differently. Two games is a slap on the wrist. Rondo got two games for tossing a ball at a ref. Also, this doesn't sound unapologetic: I'm not arguing that seven games was unfair. I'm saying that in the scope of NBA history, that is a very serious suspension for on court behavior.
Love didnt STOMP on Scola, he stepped on him. Yes, he could have done a lot more damage if he would have stepped as hard as Artest swung. That was his post suspension apology. His post game apology? "During that play I just dunked on (Kevin) Durantand (Serge) Ibaka and I got really emotional and excited and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with an unintentional elbow," World Peace said. "I hope he's OK. The Thunder, they're playing for a championship this year, so I hope that he's OK and I apologize to the Thunder and to James Harden. "You know, it was such a great game and it was unfortunate so much emotion was going on at that time ... That's it for today." Unfortunate he had to get hit with an unintentional elbow. Really? Unfortunate so much emotion was going on? I didnt see anybody else try to injure anybody. Sorry. 7 games is not enough.
Part of this makes sense, but the counter is "the emotional dunk to elbow in the face" ratio is pretty damn low for this to be a reason. Ron Artest needs to continue getting help and taking his medication if he is on any. The guy simply is not a 100% rational person and it is out of his control. I think 7 games is okay.
I don't know where you played, but if I dunked on somebody and then elbowed another guy in the face, getting shot was a distinct possibility. I can see getting in a guy's face & running your mouth or even poking/pushing him in the chest, but that elbow had no other purpose than to hurt somebody. Forget the reason behind it, the intent was pretty clear.
Here's the thing though -- if dunking on someone gets you fired up to the point where you're a physical threat to other people, maybe professional basketball player is not the proper profession for you. I don't think it was malicious per se -- I think it was more a situation where he was hype as fuck and didn't care who or what was around him, but you have to retain a modicum of decorum. I mean, you're not even allowed to hang on the rim after dunks.
What's going on with this whole Fisher vs. Billy Hunter bitchfest? I've read a few articles on ESPN where it seems like Hunter is trying to discredit Fisher and Fisher hasn't really come back with anything. But there was an article the other day showing that either Hunter has the most accomplished family in the world or he is very big on nepotism. Does anybody know more about the situation or do we just have to wait until all of it comes out after the season is over?
It's actually not clear that Hunter has done anything wrong per se. Basically he is accused of allocating about $400-500K per year to either family salaries or law firms/consultancies that employ family members of his. No one has suggested (as far as I know) that these people aren't actually working, or his family are fake lawyers. It just the sort of thing most people avoid for the sake of propriety. The basic gist of the allegation against Fisher is that he is ignoring and pretending to speak for the executive committee, and by also refusing to cooperate/meet with Hunter, he's failing to fulfill his duties as an NBPA executive. Personally, I'm inclined to side against Fisher here. Not that I think Hunter is clean as a whistle, but Fisher has been accused of selfish off-the-court behavior in the past, and I'm not especially inclined to believe that all 8 members of the executive committee are either in Hunter's pocket or stupid. Some of them have reputations for being very intelligent/high-character guys (Bonner, Evans, Thomas in particular). This appears to not so much be Hunter v. Fisher as Everyone v. Fisher. He seems to be more interested in being a publicly known crusader than actually doing his job. He's latched on to a valid complaint, but refuses to actually deal with it like an adult.
Why won't Hunter submit to Fisher's request for a fiscal review of the Union? Hunter didn't have a problem with Fisher until Fisher asked a 3rd Party to review the financials of the Union and now all of a sudden Fisher needs to resign? If I was Fisher, I would agree to resign as soon as the audit of the Union is complete.
I don't know. Without having all the information, I think he should submit to a independent review. But all eight of the other members of the NBPA executive committee (which Fisher is supposed to be part of) said that Hunter answered their questions to their satisfaction during a conference call that Fisher unilaterally refused to take part in. Fisher skipped the conference call and instead 1) held his own, and 2) then went to the press. He's also accused of skipping meetings. That's not how one does your job.
Oh, it's extremely clear. Hunter is one of the most corrupt figures in sports, and unfortunately, he left a huge paper trail; <a class="postlink" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nbpa-executive-director-billy-hunter-sought-union-investment-for-bank-with-ties-to-son.html;_ylt=AnX2HzBopqEctUkOfD5tokM5nYcB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nbpa- ... 5tokM5nYcB</a> (Seriously, read that...it will make your jaw drop) That pie chart cracks me up. In the MLB, Weiner/Fehr make just 10% of the union's money. In the NFL, Upshaw/Smith took up a modest 18%. Billy Hunter? 46%, almost as much as all the other union employees combined. That's not even counting his purposefully awful investments into banks under federal investigation where his son sat on the board of directors, or investments into a legal firm that hired his daughter. Look, as I have mentioned before, I fucking hate Derek Fisher. He is an awful fucking piece of shit. I agree with you that he is both a liar and horrible at his job, in addition to using his daughter's legitimate, eye-threatening cancer to sign with a team he wanted. But all those same pejoratives are true of Billy Hunter, and in Hunter's case, he is also a greedy scumbag and criminal. It's not a case of good guy versus bad guy. Rather, it's low-life scum versus low-life scum.
At some point, it's almost like calling the police to report corruption in the police department. The response to "Umm...I think we should have somebody look at the books" should not be "You suck at your job!" I am fine if they want to fire Fisher, but deal with that issue after the potential rampant corruption issue. One at a time.
<a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7855638/los-angeles-lakers-metta-world-peace-addresses-elbow-oklahoma-city-thunder-james-harden" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/stor ... mes-harden</a> Do you think HE even believes the bullshit that comes from his mouth? Stern should suspend him more just for his comments. Best response: "If the elbow was accidental and he felt so bad, why didnt he turn around to check on Harden? Nuff said." He should change his name to "Dirty Diaper" cuz he's full of shit!
This should come as no shock to anyone, but Ron Artest is a fucking idiot. The non-idiot (I can't call it smart because it's so damn obvious) thing to do would be to immediately say the same thing Kevin Love did after trampling Luis Scola's face; "holy shit, I'm so sorry. I hope the guy is okay; I fucked up real bad." Instead, he was unapologetic after the game, (it was just an "unfortunate situation", nothing more) and even now, concocts these ridiculous, moronic excuses that sound like something that a 4 year-old would tell his mother. Then again, this is the same guy who didn't seem too bothered by what happened in the crowd brawl in Detroit in 2004, and instead wanted to talk about his new rap album a mere two weeks after the incident. Artest is simply out of synch with reality and normal human thinking. Focus- The Jazz make the playoffs! Honestly, I think they have a chance against the Spurs. Had they played against the Thunder, they probably would have been swept. They have no one that can stop Westbrook and Durant; even when the Jazz are successful themselves on the offensive end, the Thunder just score too easily. However, these are largely the same Spurs that won 61 games and were the #1 seed last year in the playoffs...only to lose to #8 Memphis in the first round. They are vulnerable to dominating post play on both ends combined with solid jump-shooting, something the Jazz have plenty of.
<a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/nba/scoreboard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/nba/scoreboard</a> Shit just got real! Hello 76ers, so happy to be playing you. Lie down in 5 games, Derrick Rose needs his rest for the real teams. Thanks. I will also become the biggest New York Knick fan ever for the next week and a half. Fuck the Heat.
Two things that confuse me about peoples' perceptions of the playoffs; 1. Why do so many people (and not just braindead Lakers fans) believe the Lakers will triumph over the Nuggets? If you go by point margins and expected wins, Denver is a straight-up better team, with the Lakers averaging a paltry 1.4 more points per game than opponents, and Denver averaging 2.9 more. On top of this, Denver presents a bunch of match-up nightmares for LA. Unless Stern's 3 zebras are determined to push the Lakers through to the next round by giving them every single call (a possibility), I think the Nuggets take this. 2. Why do people believe New York Knicks will give the Heat any trouble? Yeah, the Knicks finished the season nicely and Carmelo is playing well. But it doesn't matter against the Heat, who have squashed them like bugs throughout the season, and absolutely destroy them in terms of match-ups. This will either be a sweep or go 5 games.
Well that was one of the most bittersweet wins I've experienced. Derrick Rose was playing the way he should play with his roster. 1 assist and 1 rebound away from a triple double. He kept shooting in the last 3 instead of playing pure point guard. The play he got injured on, was completely retarded. Why he was getting off the ground at all in that situation is a complete mystery. My only real pointed critique is Rose fishes for fouls too much. He should have been careful with that lead and his injury history. Unless the Heat get knocked out, The Bulls probably won't get to the Finals, probably a ACL/MCL. End rant.
An interesting decision by Chicago would be to shut down Derrick Rose for the 1st and 2nd round playoff series altogether. The NBA has been all about depth this season, and the Spurs and Bulls are the two best teams in the NBA in that category. I think Chicago can beat both Philadelphia and the winner of Boston/Atlanta without Rose, although both series will be close. Then, they can bring him back much healthier and more well-rested to take on the Heat.
No that would be the New York Knicks ability to play basketball. 33 point loss in the first game. That must hurt. With Shumpert injured, Wade is going to have free reign. Shane Battier locked Melo the fuck down, forcing him into the high post all the time knocking him off his game. 2-15 in shooting. 11 points and 10 rebounds. Baron Davis had 10 points also. That's a bad sign. Good thing for them its only one game. No way the 76ers are going to win a playoff series, surprised they made it this far. They played with no swag or fire at all. Its like they were already beat. No mental steroids, no love of the game, no energy.