This just in: The NBA has suspended Matt Barnes and Rafer Alston for two games each for their roles in a confrontation in Wednesday night's game. Steve Nash was also suspended for one game. Tracy McGrady was fined $25K and Shaquille O'Neal was fined $35K.
The fight happened late in the third quarter, when Barnes reacted to a Rafer Alston screen by throwing an elbow. Alston took acception and got in Barnes' face. The shoving started. Nash ran in, McGrady pushed him down and Shaq jumped in pushing everybody. The Refs handed out 7 technicals. Alston and Barnes were ejected from the game. The Rockets went on to win.
The penalties are about what I suspected. I'm a little bit surprised Nash was suspended, but he did escalate the problem.
The Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns got into a shoving match last night on the way to a 12-point Rockets victory. The melee ended with two players getting ejected. Seven technicals were also handed out. Take a look:
Everyone gets down on sports-related fights and say things like "The win was marred by a fight..." or use words like "Disgraceful" or "Shameful." Get real people! Skirmishes like this are nothing but good for the league, the teams and the players.
I love fights like this! Listen, this isn't the Malice in the Palace, okay. That brawl was disgraceful because the fans got involved. The fans threw things at the players, the players ran into the stands, the fans flooded the court. That was chaos - but great TV*. This was a shoving match - at worst.
No matter what people might think, basketball absolutely is a contact sport. Bodies are bumping and banging into each other. It's a physical game riddled with adrenaline and testosterone. Not only am I not surprised when I see players get into it, I expect players to get into it. It proves they're playing with heart. They're playing with fire. And I'm not surprised when teammates jump in if two players are going to it. You protect your guys.
Shaq summed it up pretty well after the game. "Somebody pushed Steve so I had to take care of my little man," O'Neal said. "It wasn't nothing serious, though, just a push and shoving match."
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of shoving in any team sport. It gets everyone's ire up. Gets them competitive. Helps with team camaraderie. And it's free advertising for the league, when non-sports related news outlets pick up on the story. As long as the fans stay out of it and no one ends up throwing punches or worse, stomping players and using their helmets as weapons, then everything is fine.
*My favorite part of the whole video is about 7:00 in the video, when a short, pudgy fan runs out onto the court to fight the 6'7", 270-pound Ron Artest - a professional athlete in peak physical condition. Then about 15 seconds later Jermain O'Neal runs in and tries to nail the guy's buddy. If O'Neal hadn't slipped I bet that man's head would have exploded.
This just in: The NBA has suspended Matt Barnes and Rafer Alston for two games each for their roles in a confrontation in Wednesday night's game. Steve Nash was also suspended for one game. Tracy McGrady was fined $25K and Shaquille O'Neal was fined $35K.
