May 16th 2007 6:32PM
First, let me go on the record as saying that in the event that a vote comes up to change the rules about suspensions for players leaving the bench, I will vote against changing it.

Why ? Because its incredibly simple to educate players about the rule. Its a rule they fully understand and they understand the consequences of violating the rule. That makes the NBA stronger because it removes uncertainty. Can it result in a game(s) being impacted , yes. However, that impact results from an action a player knew violated the rules and was a mistake. There is no uncertainty about it. All they had to do was not leave the bench.

I actually think that more rules need to be iron clad like the “don’t leave the bench rule”. Whenever we can remove discretion in enforcement from the NBA the game is better for it.

Fans will hate the Suns not having Amare and Boris, but they all know the rule and recognize that the players knew it and fully understood it. What really gets fans, and me upset is when they can’t understand how and why a rule is enforced.

When Jason Terry was suspended for throwing a punch last year, our only argument was whether or not he actually threw a punch. If he did, all involved, including Jason knew and understood what the punishment would be and why.

When Udonis Haslem got suspended a game for throwing a mouthpiece while lying on the ground, I didn’t quite get that one. Fined for being mad at an official, that I understand all too well. The suspension I didn’t.

When guys throw an elbow to the head or a knee to the groin or have a habit of stepping under a player as he lands, its far too difficult for officials and the league to gauge intent. Its pretty much impossibIe. I think we need to take a no leeway position and make both a flagrant 2 foul. Make it a no questions asked rule. Watch how quickly teams re educate players on how to close out on shooters and how quickly player behavior changes. Not by all, but those who can’t probably are repeat offenders and deserve the penalty. A guy missing the rest of a game is a whole lot better than injuring a player and impacting his career.

It won’t completely eliminate the need for the NBA to pass judgment on player intent and dish out punishment, but it will reduce the number of times they have to do it.

To make the job of enforcing all of this a little easier, I would like to propose something publicly that I have proposed privately but was shot down.

Allow officials, at their discretion, to use instant replay to review unsportsmanlike conduct or any action that could lead to a flagrant 2 foul.

This would be an important change not only to help get the play right, but also because it lets the punitive action for a bad act take place in the game it impacts. It would also make fans feel that the officials took the appropriate action based on the best information available. It can be incredibly frustrating to everyone at the game when a replay contradicts the best efforts of an official on a matter as serious as a Flagrant Foul.

Its not a cure, but it increases the chances of penalties being relative to the game in which the problem occurred. Plus, although it wouldn’t eliminate the need for the league to take action on players, it would probably reduce the number of times they would be asked to take action over a players on court behavior.

Link to Article.

With the Spurs dubbed the new bad boys of the league and the overall favorite to not only make it to the finals but win the whole thing I’m wondering Do the jazz have a chance against the 3 time champion Spurs?

Is it to early to call it?

I don’t think so, the Spurs vs. Suns was billed much the same way as the Lakers vs. Spurs several years ago. The winner would go on to win the NBA Championship. This year is no different. Dallas disappeared, giving the Spurs a bye for the Western Conference Championship. Errr.. I mean, they have to face Utah.

The last time Utah won a game in San Antonio, Karl Malone & John Stockton were taking on David Robinson & Avery Johnson. 1999, the year the Spurs would go on to win the championship for the first time anyhow.

I know it’s hard for a lot of so-called basketball fans to watch the Spurs win another Championship.

“Learn to appericate what you’re seeing, ’cause it’s historic what the Spurs have done the past several years” — Greg Anthony

It’s undeniable that since Tim Duncan arrived in ‘97 the Spurs have had the best winning percentage of any team in any of the 4 major sports in the US.

Get used to it, we’ll see them again next year to.

My next question, why dont’ they win every year?

1999 - Championship
2000 - 2002 Injuries to: Derek Anderson (starting guard), David Robinson (starting center), or Tim Duncan (MVP)
2003 - Championship
2004 - Big Shot Rob, normally known for his clutch shooting, goes 1-20 from 3pt range against his former Lakers. Thanks Horry! (Oh yeah, and Derek Fisher hits a big shot, after time expired.. good job shot clock operator)
2005 - Championship
2006 - Manu’s foolish foul on Dirk, Finleys non-technical technical (the NBA rescinded the technical foul that tied the game that Dallas would win in OT).
2007 - Championship… okay, well 8 wins from now, the rest is academic..

Win the Spurs win the Championship there will be only 5 coaches to have won a Championship over the last 20 years.

1) Popovich
2) Riley
3) Tomjanavich
4) Jackson
5) Daly

Maybe there is something to this coaching thing?

Commissioner David Stern canceled his scheduled trip to Phoenix for Game 5. He plans to go to Cleveland instead.

“…the NBA would love nothing more than figure a way to get the ratings-free Spurs out of these playoffs and move along Steve Nash and the space-age Suns.”

-Adrian Wojnarowski (Yahoo! Sports)

You guys got it 100% right. I could care less if refs missed stuff. Odds are, you’ll miss stuff randomly and it will even out. But manipulation of games and vendettas against players is just sickening. At least in pro-wrestling, the wrestlers know it’s scripted. In the NBA, those guys play their butts off and no matter what they do, it’s the refs who ultimately decide. Pathetic. Every year, I get closer and closer to never buying NBA League Pass again, but the regular season is reffed somewhat better than the playoffs. In the playoffs, the refs get so obvious in their manipulation that it literally makes me sick.

-Chris

I can appreciate that the NBA is trying to clean up it’s act, I also think it’s pathetic that the NBA has suspended 3 players in the Spurs - Suns matchup. Let’s face it, this is the NBA Finals.

Diaw & Sto’dirty’mire are a bigger loss for one game than Horry is for two. The Suns will be at home without two of their best players.

Consistency…

How is a hip-check, which happens all of the time, not quite with such a flop on the receiving end, and/or leaving the bench to check on your teammate, worse than say, elbowing a player in the head knocking him down in a dead-ball situation. Say for instance the blow Fisher received from Baron Davis? No ejections there?

I’m convinced that the NBA would be 100% better off if instead of looking for the ‘most experienced refs’ looked for refs that were a little more consistent. If every ref called the game the same way every time. It would be a better show! The fans would know the fouls, the teams would know the fouls, and there would be peace in the world.

I just had to part with one comment. If Amare was simply ‘checking in’ on the dead ball situation, because the coach ‘told him to’. Why were the coaches trying desperately to hold him back?

Okay, who wins?

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Fan lash out at the NBA!

Well it seems that the NBA has finally gone and done it. They have manipulated games for years and it is beginning take a toll on the fans. Blog’s across the country are on fire with posters who agree and disagree with the NBA latest ruling to suspend Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw. Is it possible that this could be a positive for the NBA? No, but it sure draws attention to NBARefsSuck.com!

The controversy started with Amare going public with complaints that Bruce Bowen is a dirty player and intentionally tried to injure him. Let me state for the record that I don’t believe Bowen is dirty, he does play at a level of intensity that is always going to rub offensive player the wrong way! Next comes the Bowen knee to Steve Nash’s, how do you say it nicely, twig and berries.

Now there were plenty of fouls the Suns committed against the Spurs that could have been deemed dirty and more likely to cause injury. But the Spurs, as they have in the past, choose to keep their mouths shut and decided not give the opposing team material for the chalkboard. A sure sign of a dirty team!

Maybe you can tell that I take issue with the media not bothering to tell the truth. The national media has been calling the Spurs, Tim Duncan and David Robinson soft for years! Now, all of a sudden, when there is a story to sell. They are more than happy to jump on the bandwagon and reap the rewards of the “Spurs are Dirty” train. I call bullshit! Is there not one national media writer who has the, how do I say it, berries to call this what it is! BULLSHIT!

Back to how we got to the fans lashing out at the NBA. Game 4(four) in San Antonio and the Suns are in a must win game. Spurs have had a strangle hold on the game for 3 quarters and half way through the forth quarter the refs decide it’s time to even up the game and let the players decide the game. No calls, phantom calls and bad calls slow the Spurs and give the Suns the momentum. Suns regain the lead and everyone is amazed when the Spurs take out their frustration on Steve Nash, Robert Horry sending Nash into the scoring table with a hip-check the rivals the NHL. Sure it’s wrong and Robert Horry is most probably going to end his amazing career with an ugly mark he doesn’t really deserve and nickname “Big Shot Bob” with more than one meaning. Amare and Diaw charge of bench, never really getting involved in the altercation on the floor. But the NBA rules clearly states that if you leave the bench area during an altercation that player will receive a one game suspension and a $35,000 fine.

Horry suspended for 2 games, Amare and Diaw are suspended for one game each. Now the self anointed most exciting team in the league has to play without two of their starters because they over reacted to Steve Nash’s over acting! That’s right I said it, Steve Nash flopped two of his own players out of game 5 of the best series in years. The Spurs lose a 12 minute clutch player for game 5 and 6. By my estimation the Suns shot themselves in the foot because the NBA manipulates games for entertainment value and the sponsors who buy commercials at he end of games!

Oh yeah by the way! The real most exciting offensive team, the media princess Dallas Mavs already got booted in the first round by a much tougher 8th seed.

NBA Refs Suck this we already know. They have been making bad calls all year. But bad calls aren’t the real problem, I have always said that the refs are going to miss calls, they are human. But manipulating the game to make it close is a complete outrage as far as I’m concerned. The Suns fans are blaming the Spurs, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry and even Tim Duncan when the probably should be pointing the (middle) finger at the NBA, NBA REFS and the media.

Zip

PHOENIX — Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire and teammate Boris Diaw were suspended Tuesday for one game for leaving the bench after Robert Horry’s flagrant foul of Steve Nash in Game 4 of the Suns’ Western Conference semifinal against San Antonio.

The NBA also announced Horry was suspended for two games for knocking Nash into the scorer’s table with 18 seconds remaining in the Suns’ 104-98 victory at San Antonio on Monday night. Phoenix’s victory evened the series at 2-2.

All three players will miss Wednesday night’s Game 5 in Phoenix of what has been a rough, intense showdown between two of the best teams in the NBA. Horry also will miss Friday night’s Game 6 in San Antonio.

Horry was suspended for flagrantly fouling Nash and striking Raja Bell about the shoulders with a forearm, NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson said in a statement. Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended for leaving “the immediate vicinity of their bench” during the altercation.

Bulls coach Scott Skiles weighted in on the suspensions.

“A rule is a rule, and in the past handful of years since they put that in, there have been I think less than five, maybe less than three, but there have been a couple occasions where someone just put one foot on the floor and got suspended. So if you’re going to have a hard and fast rule like that, I think you’ve got to abide by it, and you can’t make any exceptions,” said Skiles.

Link!

SAN ANTONIO – Down by eight points entering the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Monday, the Phoenix Suns faced a defining moment in their season, if not their legacy. Would they be able to overcome their reputation as a shoot-first, defend-later, style-over-substance team? Or would they dig deep, make defensive stops, overcome a rowdy crowd and beat a San Antonio Spurs team that was controlling the action with its trademark dominating defense?

Phoenix answered the question by putting together a stirring comeback to win 104-98 and even the series at 2-2. The Suns did it with gritty defense, great rebounding and a late run fueled by Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. It was the type of game Phoenix hasn’t been able to win in the past – particularly against the Spurs – and just may have been the breakthrough the team needed in its quest to win the franchise’s first NBA title.

But – and it’s a big but – Phoenix may be facing suspensions to both Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for Game 5 on Wednesday.

Both players left the bench late in the game following Robert Horry’s flagrant foul of Steve Nash. Under the letter of the law, each player would be automatically suspended for Game 5. In fact, the precedent that has been set by the league is that there are no exceptions to the rule. Leave the bench area and you’re automatically suspended. (See Patrick Ewing, Knicks vs. Heat, 1997.) Never mind that Horry instigated the events with a dirty, thuggish takedown of Nash. Rules are rules, according to the NBA.

However, if the league decides to suspend Diaw and Stoudemire, it may have to suspend Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen as well.

In a play that went entirely unnoticed until well after the game was over, both Duncan and Bowen actually left San Antonio’s bench early in the second quarter after Francisco Elson and James Jones were entangled. Replays clearly show Duncan walking several steps onto the court as Elson and Jones appeared to be ready to get into it. Bowen then followed Duncan onto the floor, grabbed him and led him back to the bench. If the league does indeed follow the letter of the law, both Spurs players would also be suspended for Game 5.

Stu Jackson will have a busy Tuesday trying to sort everything out. The right thing to do would be to reprimand the players who left the bench area with a fine but not suspended them. The series should be decided by the teams and the players, not by an inflexible rule. The NBA needs to show some guts, announce that no suspensions will be made and have the Spurs and Suns continue what is turning into a fantastic series.

But I’m not sure if I see it happening.

In the past, Jackson and David Stern have held firm on the rule, punishing players for merely walking onto the floor a couple of steps away from the bench. There has been no flexibility. But would the league really feel like it was doing the right thing by suspending all of those players for basically doing nothing? I understand the reason for the rule – to avoid dangerous, bench-clearing brawls – but in both of the events in Game 4, no fights were involved. There were only altercations that never amounted to anything.

Jackson and Stern should take into account that not everything is black and white. They should be subjective in their ruling on this one, but again, they haven’t been before.

The late-game scene took away from a fantastic Suns comeback. After playing Duncan straight up for most of the series, Phoenix threw several double teams at him that kept Duncan off balance. As a result, the Suns were able to make key stops down the stretch. At the other end, Nash overcame eight turnovers by making huge plays with the game on the line, continually finding Stoudemire in the lane for easy hoops.

Now the Suns head back to Phoenix with home-court advantage in hand, as they try to break through the mental barrier that exists for every team that has yet to win a title. To be a champion, you have to believe deep down that you’re going to win, regardless of the situation. Monday’s game took Phoenix one step closer to gaining that belief. But now the Suns – and the Spurs – will have to wait on the league’s decisions regarding the possible suspensions.

The only player who deserves a suspension for Game 5 is Horry. As for Diaw, Stoudemire, Duncan and Bowen? We’ll see.

Let’s hope the league does the right thing and lets them all play. The basketball world deserves it.

Link