All right, I’m listening to David Stern’s press conference right now on NBA.com. (That website did something right!)
Both teams were fined five hundred thousand dollars. Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith got 10 games, Mardy Collins got six, and Jared Jeffries is out for four games. Jerome James and Nene were suspended one game each for leaving the bench.
“I’m going to start holding the teams accountable for the actions of their players,” Stern said of the fine to the teams.
Personally, I don’t much care about the Knicks and Nuggets having to pay $500,000. The suspensions are almost uniformly too steep, which is too bad for the players, but not surprising. They had to know the NBA was going to come down hard on the next team that fights.
Will Isiah Thomas be fined or suspended?
"No, we have completed our fines and they're all set forth in this announcement," Stern said. He also suggested there wasn't enough evidence that Isiah deserved punishment. Man, I feel like I have enough evidence to suspend Thomas, but I guess Stern doesn't have access to the same kind of info I do.
9 comments:
You make a great point about Carmelo's vs. Stephen Jackson's suspension.
I don't know that what Mardy Collins did was comparable to Ben Wallace. (Interesting to think about who starts it, though. If you and Pugs get in a fight over that Pelosi comment, what kind of suspension do you deserve?) Wallace, in my mind, compares more to Nate Robinson, with the random and over-the-top shoving. Collins could have been suspended more without any argument from me. The foul was BS and obviously flagrant, and he should have expected words and some chest-bumping, though I'm not sure he should have expected/forseen a fight.
And frankly, this wasn't really all that much of a fight. I just watched the Pistons-Pacers fight on YouTube, and it was WAY worse than this, by a factor of ten. That really was kind of scary. This never got very far out of hand.
Yeah, I agree with you on Thomas jawing with Carmelo. Why wasn't he yelling at George Karl instead? I guess because Isiah still thinks of himself as a player.
Yes, it is nice to have players who are passionate. I looked up Isiah on Wikipedia earlier (I was thinking about mentioning the Bulls series thing). Anyway, I guess he took John Stockton for 44 in a game right after Stockton was named over him to the Dream Team. Anyway, in the next Pistons-Jazz game, Karl Malone elbowed Thomas in the head and opened a gash that needed forty stitches. Now THAT's entertainment! (For a second there, I almost thought Karl Malone was cool, until I remembered him knocking out the Admiral with a similar but completely unprovoked elbow.)
Actually, now that I've seen the video for the eightieth time, I have a new favorite part. After Carmelo starts running, there's the huge group coming after him. (Kind of smart to back-pedal-now that I think about it, was he just supposed to stand there?) Anyway, Nate Robinson is coming from the bottom of the screen, so he heads right towards Carmelo and no one is stopping him. Once Robinson sees he's alone with Carmelo, he immediately stops and turns around. Watch it again. It's hilarious.
What I'd like to know, is why Isiah Thomas still has a job. Why didn't the Knicks think twice about this guy after Larry Bird obviously saw what he was all about in Indiana?
And did you see it Mike? Your boy Stephen A. called the 15 game suspension for Carmelo.
And just for the record, I have nothing against Isiah sticking it to John Stockton- he was probably my least favorite player to ever watch, and no one will shut up about him here in Utah.
My boy? Thanks, Wilbon.
The Knicks should have known Thomas'd be bad at this well before his Pacer days.
Isiah doesn't know the difference between a player and the coach who makes substitution decision. He should be fined just for his ignorance.
precisely john. if i were melo i'd be like, "great, why don't you go over to that rotund white dude over there and tell him that you think he should manage his stars differently, we all know how much g. karl appreciates feedback"
post script... see you in a couple of days.
mike, if you are around, you should come too.
to the wedding that is.
also
For a second there, I almost thought Karl Malone was cool
but then you remembered he still has a flat top and drove a frigging 18 wheeler.
and playing for the jazz by defualt makes you uncool.
hornacek, malone, ostertag, stockton, ainge, et al = losers
The funniest part of that last comment is that Danny Ainge never played for the Jazz. But I, uh, can think of something he had in common with most of those guys. So it's an understandable mistake.
Oh, and I should be around.
15 games with the only explaination being "to serve as an example" is both excessive and ridiculous. JR 10 for getting tackled into the crowd by Nate Robinson, quesitonable. Kollins, the guy who seeingly started it all only six games and Nate the guy who kept prolonging the fight only ten games, and Isiah who may be the ultimate reason for the fight none-I don't think the Nuggets are real popular with the league office.
Post a Comment