When David Stern handed out the massive 10 game suspension to J.R. Smith, and the even more massive 15 game suspension to Melo, he said his intention was to scare the players into avoiding throwing punches in heated situations. I predicted it would have no such effect, because many players will react impulsively in a tough situation. They won't even begin to think about how long a suspension might be until at least after they have gotten the first punch in, because adrenalin will take over for many if not most intense players. I was willing to concede that Stern would be right if players had refrained from throwing a punch or a shove in a heated situation until the end of the 2007-2008 season. Maybe that was a little stern on my part. Ok, so, at a bare minimum, if the massive suspensions were to stop other players from raising fists in a heated situation, the League should have at least made it through this season without any trouble. It turns out that the League did not make it through much time at all without another incident. A little over a week ago, Keven Garnett threw the ball and a punch at the Piston's Antonio McDyess, who had roughed up Wolves F-C Mark Madsen in the paint. Garnett was sticking up for his teamate, just as Melo did. Garnett's suspension was for only 1 game. It is true that the punch hardly landed, and that only Garnett and McDyess were involved. Both of these facts kept Mr. Stern's temper down. But still, the penalty was extremely light when viewed in relation to the J.R., Melo, and, for that matter, the Knick penalties. For George Karl's logical take on this, continue to read down below. In summary, unfortunately, Mr. Stern's dream of a League with no scrapping, due to human nature and the nature of sports, is a pipe dream. And at the very least, Mr. Stern appears to need help in avoiding his pattern of handing out extremely long and extremely short suspensions. Someone has to advise him that there is such a thing as the "happy medium". The inconsistency in penalties, 1 game for Garnett, and 15 games for Melo, is staggering. Someone might now think the League front office is biased against the Nuggets and / or the Knicks. Me? No. Really. I merely think that Mr. Stern is a dictator who fails both the test of time and the test of logic. His emotions get in the way of logical reasoning, and no one has committed a flagrant foul on him to cause this, so it is an unforced error. The tap on the wrist to McDyess and Garnett can hardly be considered any kind of deterrent against future fighting. Mr. Stern's announced policy of eliminating fighting with severe suspensions seems to have left the building sometime over the holidays. You can not eliminate all fighting, but you can reduce it by reducing the situations that lead to it, like flagrant fouls. Rules and in-game penalties are what are used to regulate flagrant fouls and other actions leading to fights. So Mr. Stern and the team owners need to increase the penalties for flagrant fouls and other similar provocations during a game if they are truly serious about cutting way back on fighting. <div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bject width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HRzShd5jQzg&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bject width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HRzShd5jQzg&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div>
The Nugget's coach may not be a defensive genius, but he seems to be quite logical regarding the wheels of justice. Karl Dismayed at Length of Garnett's Suspension for Throwing Punch <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> 1/22/2007 4:58 PM By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) -Nuggets coach George Karl did the math and it didn't add up: Denver star Carmelo Anthony drew a 15-game suspension for his fight, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett got a one-game penalty for another brawl. Obviously, if you land the punch it's 14 games,'' Karl said Monday. Throwing one is one (game) and hitting (someone) is 14. That's the equation I read. I'm just a simple guy. I couldn't pass calculus.'' Anthony was set to return Monday night when Memphis visited Denver. He had been out since throwing a punch during a wild brawl against the New York Knicks on Dec. 16. Being away from (basketball), it really made me think about how much I appreciate it,'' Anthony said. ``I wish I could take that punch back.'' Anthony hit Knicks guard Mardy Collins, who had collared J.R. Smith on the way to the basket. In all, 10 players were ejected and seven were suspended. Garnett, a perennial All-Star, sat out Sunday night's game against Phoenix. He was suspended after throwing a punch at Detroit's Antonio McDyess on Friday night. When McDyess knocked down Minnesota's Mark Madsen with a forearm shove, Garnett threw the ball at the Pistons player. McDyess charged with his fists ready and Garnett took a swipe at him. Those actions, however, did not prompt a bigger brawl. I just thought it was kind of unique that everything that J.R. and Melo were blamed for, Kevin Garnett did in the same incident,'' Karl said. ``He escalated a fight, he threw a punch, he threw a ball and gets one game. It was kind of a unique interpretation. I know it's a hard job, but no, it doesn't feel like it was a fair evaluation.'' Anthony met with NBA commissioner David Stern last week to talk about the fight at Madison Square Garden and said it went well. He explained a lot of things and made more things clearer to me,'' Anthony said. He got a chance to talk, I got a chance to talk and hopefully we're both on the same page. It wasn't so much of a message, it was just a generic conversation just to get everybody back on track.'' </div> Source
When things are getting heated and there's dirty play going on, it's rare that one will take the time to stop and think about the consequences and not react right away.
