He either did something wrong or he didn't. He came on the court during a scuffle. That has been a suspension for the last 20 years. They're saying he was already at the scorers table about to check in. But if they are saying he did nothing wrong, well then why was he fined? This is shady. If it was Raymond Felton, would he have been suspended?
CJ got suspended for a game for the same reason in a pre-season game. It's a double standard. Not surprised, the NBA has been awful for decades.
Honest answer? Yes. More honest answer? Yes andbhenwouldve lived it as he could've pigged out during his last pregame meal of the year.
I remember the Knicks/Heat game where so many people were suspended, they had to split them up over two games. Half of them were suspended for Game 6 and the other for Game 7. Crazy. Remember the PJ Brown body slam of Charlie Ward that led to it?
For those who missed the 1997 NBA Playoffs: Ewing, Houston, and Ward were suspended for Game 6 and Larry Johnson and John Starks were suspended for Game 7. How you suspend Charlie Ward after he gets flipped over like that is mindboggling. He was supposed to walk away from that?
Watching that video, the horn sounded which signifies a dead ball. He was at the table waiting for a dead ball to check in. He did. Now he might deserve a T for walking up to Gobert and talking shit, but not a T for "leaving the bench". He was IN the game.
He 100% should've been suspended. When he confronts Gobert there are 6 Thunder players on the court. That is leaving the bench. If the player he went in for was to the bench or even close to it then that is different. BTW, I don't know if this was mentioned in the game thread of Game 2 in the Blazers series but there was a play where the Blazers were inbounding the ball and Anthony Davis subbed out but he purposely walked really slow and wouldn't get off the court and the refs handed the Blazers the ball and he wasn't even close to getting off the floor. It should've been a technical foul for 6 players on the court or at the very least they should have given him a delay of game before handing the ball to the inbounder.
Why is the rule in place? Isn't so that the fight can't be more than 5 on 5 (as far as players go)? Westbrook comes into the game and goes directly at Gobert. The whole point of the rule is that anything like this remains to just who was in the game at the time. The fact that he was checking in is irrelevant if he comes right in looking to get in someone's face and escalate the altercation.
I hated when Amare and the rest got suspended and I would hate it now. People want to see the players, it isn't a drug suspension or something important.
The CJ one was stupid. I understand why the rule is in place though if you actually leave the bench to fight.
