LMAO. Yeah, just a little dead-armed after having his surgically repaired shoulder intentionally bumped more than once by Stoudemire over the past games. So, would throwing elbows Amare's eye that he almost lost be considered suspension-worthy? Since you seem to have a grasp on what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable, where would you draw the line?
Hey, ask nikolosousos. Amare is just playing physical basketball. Who cares if Batum has a dead arm after being intentionally bumped on a dead ball situation. It's the playoffs!
Yeah, it is pretty interesting to watch Amare, as well as other Suns players, around Batum. I've seen a few instances that made me feel like Suns players chase Batum's shoulder around, waiting for an opportunity to make contact with his shoulder, without being whistled. I felt it's almost been obvious, especially when setting picks. I just wanna call Gentry and be like, "Dude, send one of your tough players (they don't have many, so this may be a stretch) to hit it quick and hard, and get it over with. So you lose him for a couple games..."
Sorry, but I have to ask, did you sleep thru the 80's-early 90's? This is NOTHING compared to what used to happen with the Bad Boys and Knicks!
Those guys never went after injuries intentionally, especially in dead ball situations. Stoudemire will be known as a dirty player after this series. I'm sure the Blazers will be talking about it on the flight down to PHX. The good news is that Amare has been taken out of his own game by playing dirty.
It alone wasn't "suspension worthy", but he already has a "Flagrant 1" to his credit. Another would put him out of the next game.
Shhhh ... he's dumbfounded. If the refs had caught it, Amare would be sitting for Game 5. I don't expect Stern to add on a Flagrant One this time, so it's time to take it hard at Amare from tip-off.
What annoyed me and what I think will be important to the league was how intentional it was. There was nothing accidental about the angle of Amare's elbow when he was "adjusting" his glasses. It was the Laimbeerest of moves--chickenshit to the core.
I was at the finals games against Detroit at the MC, and even Dennis Rodman(At the time) and Big Bill L would have never done this type of bullshit. Rodman started to pull that crap in San Antonio and you know who told him to knock that shit off? His own coach and teammates.
Then so be it, he'd be suspended by the rules with two flagrants, it still doesn't make the play in isolation a suspension worthy event which has been my contention throughout this silly argument.
I am going to defend Bill here, he would smack you in the face while looking at you. Amare is such a pussy that he does it as a cheap shot, plus when Bill hit you and the refs got involved he would tell you to your face that he did it and that he planned on doing it again. That is the difference I see, and this goes to what HCP was referring to I suppose, the players back in the day at least owned their behavior. Amare simply backs away like a coward like he did nothing, aka pussy. The NBA was different back in the day and that was part of the game. In today's game it has no place.
For the record, crying to Mommy Stern wouldn't be necessary if the players were simply allowed to properly retaliate. What do you think Mo Lucas would have done to Stoudemire if this would have been 1978 instead of 2010? And knowing what was awaiting him means Stoudemire wouldn't have done it in the first place.
Now this is a very valid point. I really wish they could back to letting the players police themselves. The brawl in the Palace really ruined the game with the overreaction it created.
Sug, I'm going to respectfully disagree. You never saw Laimbeer move so fast as after he hit you. He'd make a beeline right behind a ref and dare you to retaliate, and then he'd flop like he was in the English Premier League if you breathed on him.
Goddamn dirty players. F Kermit and whatever team he was playing for at the time that killed hard fouls in the NBA!!
I wasn't really old enough to remember that, but I've seen video of that incident and it really churns your stomach. But like I said, I don't want to see physicality that threatens lives or careers, but chippy, edgy play and occasional fights don't bother me in the slightest.
Okay I might be romanticizing the era a bit, but it was simply different than this shit we are seeing from Amare. Maybe I cannot articulate it well, but do you agree with me that what we are seeing now is not the same as what we saw back in the 80 and early 90's?
