Quote:
Originally posted by jbduke
1) Laettner "stomped" on Timberlake.
You yourself said "stepped on." It was a "tap." Call it a light tap, a medium tap, a hard tap, it makes no difference. That act probably imparted three pounds of force on Timberlake's. That's less force than a solid shove, and I'd love to know that you'd rule a shove a flagrant act. Hell, Tinnant's retaliation to Paulus yesterday was more vicious than Laettner's act, and I don't recall you calling for him to be ejected. The uniqueness of Laettner's act was what caused the uproar, not the viciousness of it. It was an arrogant, terribly unsporting act, but so are all sorts of things that don't draw nearly the attention that Laettner did.
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You have got to be kidding.
How hard the step/stomp was has absolutley nothing to do with it. Spitting on someone has no force. Does that make it any less of a disgusting act? You bring up Tinnant. In my view, stomping, kicking or spitting on an opponent is much more disrespectful, unsporting of an act that shoving someone.
The point is that it was an intentional, unsporting act that very easily could have been considered flagrant. Tinnant retaliated. Laettner instigated. Whether it was Christian Laettner, Rasheed Wallace, Juluis Hodges or Tim Duncan, stepping on an opponent who's lying defenseless on the floor is a punk thing to do. I can't imagine not ejecting any player that I saw do this.