Patrick vs. Stern

[Old School]

I have argued this before and will continue to argue it. Make it a technical foul, that's harsh and sends the same message. You don't need to eject players for coming off the bench to aid their teammate and not participating in the fight. That's like wiping ********. You have to actually throw a punch to be ejected. The punishment here doesn't fit the crime. This league has never been about just following the rules. To some extent you are rewarding inappropiate behavior here. The rules are designed to create a fair and balance contest. How is this fair to the Suns? You knock the crap out of my star point guard, he could have been injured more seriously than what it was, then you suspend 2 of my starters for this same act on my point guard!!!! Are you serious? You don't let another team benefit from this type of conduct, unless of course, you want to make sure Spurs win.

[Adam]

We've told you this before. The two players weren't suspended for what was done to their point guard. They were suspended for their reaction to it.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Dan patrick made the commish sound like an @$$ trying to defend these suspensions.

[mick]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

Dan patrick made the commish sound like an *** trying to defend these suspensions.

That's in the eye of the beholder.
Seems to me the commissioner followed the rule, while Patrick wanted to rewrite the rule for ifs, ands and butts.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by mick

That's in the eye of the beholder.

I agree. I thought the commish made mincemeat out of Patrick. Dan asked, "Do you really want this series decided by suspension because. . ."

And Stern cut him off at the knees. Basically saying, "I'm not going to let you get away with that. The series will be decided by the players who followed the rules. We're not bending the rules so that our ratings might be better for this series."

[Jurassic Referee]

The bottom line remains the same. Who cares? It's only the NBA, the WWE with a basketball.

And for the NBA boosters that disagree, go find a replay somewhere of the Cleveland/NJ game last night. I actually watched a few minutes of the 4th. quarter. I was fascinated for a while; you know, kinda like watching a trainwreck. Not for young eyes though, fer sure. Just one butt-ugly mess of a ball game. Both teams combined shot 4 for 32 in the last quarter. That's 12 1/2%, folks. You can rationalize that stat away by saying they played great defense though, which defense was usually comprised of holding, pushing, shoving, etc. On the bright side though, together they shot free throws at an amazing almost 60% clip for the whole game. Kidd alone missed 5 in a row during crunch time. Yup, the NBA......freaking faaaantastic!

[JRutledge]

I think what this situation shows is the fact the NBA is not setting out to make a team win. I love how Patrick on the "Mike and Mike Show" show tried to talk about how traveling and palming were called as if these are comparable examples. For one a fouls and violations are called by game officials. Fouls and violations are called during the game while this rule was decided by executives that have to make decisions based on video tape and procedures that higher-ups think is good for the game. Everyone does not have say in how the traveling rule is written as they might in what suspensions might be carried out if procedures are violated.

Basically the NBA cannot win. If they did not suspend the Suns players, then they would be accused of favoring the stars. The fact that they said this rule applies across the board; they are being criticized for "deciding the series." Everything is not about just what the fans want. Some things are about the integrity of the process or the competition. After all it is a competition.

Peace

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by mick

That's in the eye of the beholder.
Seems to me the commissioner followed the rule, while Patrick wanted to rewrite the rule for ifs, ands and butts.

That's what I saw.

I must have missed the follow-up interview to which W&S was referring.