Apparently reacted to a flagrant from Dooling, ejected after eight minutes after scoring a single point (which was, ironically, a technical FT). Still up eight in the second, but Rashard and Luke now need to keep up their hot starts and Flip needs to come through off the bench. He won't get a better chance than this.
retarded. i only saw part of it....how dooling was elbowing him or whatever...and then he got really pissed about how dooling shoved him and he (allen) pushes dooling into the stands..whoa..first time in a long time i've seen allen ejected.
If anyone finds a video of this please post it. This could be a momentum shifter (for the season I mean). Damn, Shard and Luke both went off. 43 and 22 respectively as of now. Orlando should be ashamed. Big win. Makes me wonder if we should have paid a certain guard.
Sounds like a ripper of a fight. Just from the reading of it, looks like Dooling is likely to cop a longer suspension.
Saw the highlights of the fight - Dooling was playing pretty physical defense on Ray and who can blame him. But he took it too far and gave Ray a forearm shiver that knocked him down, then he stood over him ala Muhammad Ali over Frazier. Dooling then charged the Sonics lockeroom lol Re: the game, nice win without Ray I suppose. Orlando's pretty sorry, though, and once again the opposing guard goes off on us (Nelson, 32) and we lose the battle of the boards 41-31. My main concern is Collison - he needs to get more than 14mins per game.
yeah and dooling deserves the longer suspension. Ray just did what a man would do. Im glad he reacted the way he did...although he's gonna be suspended. But still...we played tough throughout the game...and maybe we will throughout the season....?
Anybody else going to the Heat game on Friday? I will be very disappointed if Ray is suspended for it.
An elbow is an understatement....Dooling charged Ray harder than a bull at a matador in Spain....not to promote fighting or anything, but I admire Ray for doing that....League should not suspend him (even though they will) for doing what any man would do....protect himself.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Anybody else going to the Heat game on Friday? I will be very disappointed if Ray is suspended for it.</div> I am and I will be as well. I want to see a close, hard-fought game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">My main concern is Collison - he needs to get more than 14mins per game.</div> Most of the time, I would agree - but Nick picked up 3 fouls in approx 3 1/2 minutes of play in the first half, putting him in during the 3rd earlier in order to give him the chance to possibly earn more minutes runs the risk of him picking up 4 & 5 and then not having him for the end of the game. I think I'm with Hill in giving the 5-10 extra minutes or so to Vladi. With Ray out, I think having Rad on the court who is more of a scoring threat, IMO, was essential to allowing the offense to continue to flow. Not that Nick bogs it down, and I'm sure the rebounding would have been closer with him playing more minutes, but I just happen to think that in this game it was working so well in the 3rd there wasn't much of a reason to take Rad or the young bucs out. Nick seems to be a little depressed lately - he's not a very emotional guy, but lately really seems to have his head down for some reason. Wonder if he had his heart set on starting and was upset when Hill handed it to Vladi??? As a rule though, I'm with you - this team needs Nick Collison to get more minutes if its going to keep pace on the boards and defensively.
i don't want to sound dumb or anything, since ray allen is my favorite player...but maybe it was better for him to be out of a game because how are these "underrated" players going to shine when theres always a starplayer out there. you know? lol, i think i would've done the same like ray as i would try to defend myself too. i hope he doesn't get suspended but most likely he will...
Dooling is crazy. It wasn't that serious. Is it true that he ran after Ray Allen in the lockeroom? lol. Dooling, Fortson, Artest, Kobe, Kurt Thomas and Gary Payton should all go on the same team. =p As for the game, great win by the Sonics. That road trip took a lot out of them and Shard was bound to have a great game sooner than later. I though AI's 40+ point game was efficent with 16-25 shooting, but 12-18, wow.
lol @ Ehlo. I just watched the tape of the game, after the fight Ehlo makes the comment: 'You never love to see that happen'
I'm actually glad to see Ray step up like that. Not only does it show his passion, but it is definitely a team motivator. It also puts to rest any assumptions that Ray is soft due to his type of play and the fact that he's a movie star. If he gets suspended it may hurt us, but then again it could be a bonding thing and if the team plays like it did vs. the Magic then all should be well.
I'm definitely not with everybody else on this one. It was just a stupid move on both their parts. Getting run into twice was not just cause for Ray to try to tackle Dooling. I'd rather he try to expend some energy on playing defense than looking tough.
I'm with Casual. I understand what happened, and why, but I think it was very poor judgement on both players to let it escalate to that point, that fast on the court. The referees didn't really even have time to realize they needed to clamp down before it turned to fists.
On the flip side, IMO it really illustrates just how much Rashard has evolved as a player. Ray was ejected, and he took it upon himself to shoulder the team offensively and the result was 45 points and a win. Gone is the timid Rashard who was happy to take the backseat as second option, he is a bonafide All-Star this season, even if our record prevents him being picked on the bench (given Ray is a shoe-in).
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The referees didn't really even have time to realize they needed to clamp down before it turned to fists.</div> I couldn't disagree with this statement more. I was sitting home watching the game and I could see it escalating. And the 3 blind mice on the court couldn't? Please! I blame the piss-poor officiating as much as anything else. All they needed to do was call one of the missed 3-4 calls in a row and nothing happens. But by not blowing the whistle, it 1. emboldened the Magic to play rougher and rougher, and 2. it frustrated Ray to the point of eruption. Even at the end, if they blow the whistle right away after Dooling shoves Ray to the ground, I think it only turns into a shoving match, it doesn't escalate into fisticuffs. The shove happened right in front of an official, and she never blew the whistle. If the fight doesn't happen, I don't think a foul is called at all, much less a flagrant. Just absolutely horrible officiating. As for Ray's response -- while I abhor violence, especially in this context -- I can see where he'd think if he didn't do something about it, he was going to be a marked man for the rest of the game, if not the season.
