<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MIAMI -- Miami forward Udonis Haslem will miss Monday's playoff game against the Chicago Bulls, serving a one-game suspension for throwing his mouthpiece toward referee Joey Crawford in the series opener. Haslem will sit out Game 2 of the Heat's first-round series with the Bulls on Monday night. The NBA announced the sanction after the Heat's morning shootaround practice. Haslem was unavailable for comment. Heat coach Pat Riley also declined comment after the morning practice, saying he was waiting for the NBA to publicly announce its decision. "He's really down," said Jason Levien, Haslem's agent. "I think he really feels like he let the team down. He's disappointed in the league's call, but he's accepting of it. ... He'll be on pins and needles tonight, because if the Heat don't win he'll take that very personally." Levien said Haslem learned of the decision around the time that Miami's morning practice ended.</div> Source
Haslems actions were completely uncalled for; and now that leads to his suspension. Its sad because he was playing incredible before that play, but anyhow I heard he apologized so thats always good. Not having Haslem tonight is not good, hopefully our other players will step up.
Yeah it was bonehead for him to lose his composure and throw his mouthpiece, especially at Joey Crawford of all people. He will toss players out for just looking at him the wrong way. The Bulls were aggressive on the offensive rebounds after Haslem went out. This puts more pressure on Shaq to dominate the paint again. I'm not sure if just one day of rest is enough for the Heat to have the energy tonight. The Bulls are younger and have a lot of team speed. They will have the fresh legs tonight while the Heat will be without Haslem, an ailing Wade, and some fatigued vets. Chicago has a lot of advantages tonight they should win.
Chicago has a strong chance of taking the series with Alonzo and Udonis out of the lineup... But Heat can still manage to win with the bench if they step it up.
Personnally in my on opinion I dont think Chicago could still win with D.Wade and Shaq still playing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TimmyDMVP:</div><div class="quote_post">HE should get a iced out mouthpiece, that way he know its expensive</div> Haslem is expendable. Dole pretty much does everything that Haslem does. The one problem is that they don't have Zo playing yet. Luckily the Bulls play small ball so the Heat can just run with an combination of three of their guards.
For those 2 who said Chicago still had a chane...NO. Not with Shaq dominating their terrible inside players. Also, Haslem did not deserve to get suspended. A fine is deserving but not a suspension. This is the Playoffs and there is a totally different level of intensity. I don't think Haslem through it at Crawford. Joey Crawford needs to change as well, Haslem did not deserve an ejection this guy is insane. Haslem got crushed and thrown to the floor and there was no call. I don't agree with it at all.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker15:</div><div class="quote_post">For those 2 who said Chicago still had a chane...NO. Not with Shaq dominating their terrible inside players. Also, Haslem did not deserve to get suspended. A fine is deserving but not a suspension. This is the Playoffs and there is a totally different level of intensity. I don't think Haslem through it at Crawford. Joey Crawford needs to change as well, Haslem did not deserve an ejection this guy is insane. Haslem got crushed and thrown to the floor and there was no call. I don't agree with it at all.</div> The league protects the officials, you can't have players throwing things at them. Haslem is lucky he didn't get more than a 1-game suspension, what he did was stupid.
^I agree it was stupid but I don't believe Haslem through it at the officials. Haslem even called Stu Jackson telling him that he did not throw it at Crawford. Crawford isn't playing so he doesn't know how intense it is. Haslem is a guy who gets pounded every night and unlike Wade and Shaq doesn't get many calls because his name is Udonis Haslem which is not right.
He through the mouth piece in the officials direction. Crawford was looking right at him when Haslem threw it. Also we don't know what the audio was like on the play, I'm sure Haslem had some choice words for him to get Crawford to turnaround in the first place. I can understand you being upset about the decision as a Heat fan. I'd feel the same way if a Laker got suspended for doing something similar. But the league has made it clear that the officials are not to be shown up without repercussions.
Haslem did the right thing. How many techinical fouls did it take the Pistons over 5 years for them to reach the NBA in #1 in least fouls, along with their ability to foul as much as they want, and get all the ticky tacks in their favor? And still, they'll continue to btch and cry all the time because that's a big part of their hopes of winning. (and for christs sake, they were a big part of the Brawl and they got off WAAAAAAAAAAAY too easy, while their road to a title got a lot easier because the Pacers were out of contention) Haslem did the right thing. He brought attention to a problem that's been going on since last year. Because of all the ticky tacks against us, our ability to play defense is castrated, while the other team is allowed to mug our players for as long as they like. Now the world will be watching the officiating in this series and the refs will be under heavy scrutiny for any calls they make, or fail to make, for/against us.
wow thats huge for the heat..we really need him to be there for when shaw is to be lazy and haslem to chase those rebounds..walker really needs to step up.
