Songaila suspended for Wizards' Game 6 at Cavs <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>WASHINGTON -- Washington Wizards reserve forward Darius Songaila was suspended by the NBA for Game 6 of a playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night for hitting LeBron James in the face with his hand. Songaila, averaging 5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 15.4 minutes during the series, and Wizards coach Eddie Jordan have said the contact was accidental. Songaila was called for a technical foul, the latest in what has been a rough-and-tumble series. Songaila participated in Washington's shootaround at its arena Friday morning, before the league announced the suspension. He made contact with James' face in the first quarter of Washington's 88-87 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday in Game 5. That victory allowed Washington to cut Cleveland's lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. "We got tangled up, my arm got caught inside of his, and when he tried to free himself, it was just an accident. He lifted my arm and it him right in the face. It was caused by him," Songaila said Thursday. "It wasn't my intention or anything like that. If anything, it was an accident." Jordan watched video of the play and his opinion hadn't changed. "I stand my ground. I thought he got tangled up with LeBron, and LeBron tried to get untangled. And in his method of trying to get untangled, Darius' arm just flew at his chin," Jordan said Thursday. "And LeBron's a terrific actor. We've seen some of his commercials."</div>
Maybe LeBron hit himself with Songaila/s arm and maybe Songaila did it on purpose. It's impossible to tell from the replay. However, it's no surprise which way the NBA scored it. This will just motivate the Wizards even more.
I hope it does motivate them. I thought it was an incident, it wasn't on purpose. I know Songaila from the Sactown days and he's a great guy. I think they'll miss him to some extent, for fouls, and maybe on offense a bit. GO WIZARDS!!!
To me it looks as if he did it on purpose. More than that, the way he acted afterwards proves it. Look at 2:42 for the foul itself. His hand movement is very fast, without any movements by LeBron. It's a punch. I love how he's lying about it as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Astral @ May 2 2008, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>To me it looks as if he did it on purpose. More than that, the way he acted afterwards proves it. Look at 2:42 for the foul itself. His hand movement is very fast, without any movements by LeBron. It's a punch. I love how he's lying about it as well.</div> You may be right, but I don't understand your conviction. He was flailing about, it could have been incidental. Also, if one were going to punch LeBron, I don't think one would go at him that softly. I don't think anyone can say they absolutely know the intent just from looking at the vid.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (huevonkiller @ May 2 2008, 06:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Astral @ May 2 2008, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>To me it looks as if he did it on purpose. More than that, the way he acted afterwards proves it. Look at 2:42 for the foul itself. His hand movement is very fast, without any movements by LeBron. It's a punch. I love how he's lying about it as well.</div> You may be right, but I don't understand your conviction. He was flailing about, it could have been incidental. Also, if one were going to punch LeBron, I don't think one would go at him that softly. I don't think anyone can say they absolutely know the intent just from looking at the vid. </div> I never said I'm absolutely certain, hell there's a chance even he wasn't absolutely certain what he was doing. But that's how it looked to me. The slap was a little too fast, and James didn't do anything with his arm to provoke it. Maybe I didn't describe my reasoning well: after he "slaps" LeBron, watch what he does. He kind of turns away and puts on the tough guy act. A lot of people do that when they do something "bad".
