Suspensions of Belief

The villains have won this round. If the NBA wanted to send a message, it's the wrong one. With the suspensions of Stoudemire and Diaw, you've given every team who's in a tight series a possible opportunity to regain an advantage. Much like hockey, you can rent-a-thug, bring him out the last few seconds of a game and:

1) Physically assault one of the other teams best players, with the hope of
2) Inciting other key players from that team to leave the bench and get at least a one game suspension.

It's ironic that in a country where the wealthy and politician classes are rarely held accountable to the rules they set, the NBA in its corporate wisdom decides to forgo what's truly correct in this matter, and adhere to the letter of the law. Who cares about the actual intent of the law; it's more important to blindly follow the rule, no matter what.

If the Spurs win this series, it will be tarnished, even in many of their own fans eyes. Buck Harvey of the SA Express came down pretty hard on his club this morning. Sure, if they get to raise the trophy, memories will be short for the faithful. But especially with the way Gregg Popovich has been addressing the matter, the Spurs image as the bland, good guy citizens has been changed. I have to believe that in the NBA backroom, a little respect has been lost for him and their team.

It's pretty easy to draw the line between hard, physical play and thuggery. The Warriors/Jazz series clearly demonstrates this concept, especially in the last two games. The way Nellie's team responded with cheap shots as the frustration level rose for their club is indicative of the type of characters on their roster. The Jazz don't have Stockton or Malone anymore--as mentioned in my last post--but the hard but clean fouls have carried on to a new generation. Anyone paying attention can see the difference. Hopefully, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer will not degrade into the dirty (but crafty), whining louts Stockton and Malone did by the end of their careers.

The real tragedy of this decision for me personally is that I have to agree with Charles Barkley. The NBA should look at changing this rule in the off season, and focus on the intent of the players leaving the bench. If the players don't participate in the incident and retreat quickly, leave them alone. If they start trash talking, or intercede, those are grounds for suspension. The whole point of the rule is to prevent escalation of the incident, not where a player is physically standing when a cheap shot occurs. That must be way too basic for Stu Jackson. Why is he still in the league anyway?