I am seriously torn about this Spurs-Suns incident last night in San Antonio.
Didn’t see it? Can’t blame you. These West Coast NBA playoff games are aimed at a pretty narrow target audience back here in the East: insomniacs, people working the graveyard shift in security booths, and NBA writers who got stuck in traffic driving home from Game 4 of the Nets-Cavs series at the Meadowlands.
For those who do not fit those demographics: The Spurs’ Robert Horry hip-checked the Suns’ Steve Nash into the scorer’s table with 18 seconds left and Phoenix leading, 100-97, in Game 4. It was ruled a flagrant foul-type 2, and Horry was ejected.
Horry, who has made a living on big shots in the playoffs, might have inadvertently connected on the biggest one of his career with that foul.
That’s because as Nash popped up and Raja Bell came to his defense along the sideline, the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench area and headed toward the fray. They were stopped by assistant coach Marc Iavaroni, but perhaps too late to prevent them from being suspended for Game 5. Watch the video here.
The NBA has a history of strictly enforcing a rule prohibiting players from leaving the bench during an altercation on the court. It all started with the Knicks’ Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and John Starks leaving the bench during a Game 5 brawl between Charlie Ward and P.J. Brown in 1997.
The Knicks led 3-2, but lost Game 6 without Ewing and Houston and then lost Game 7 without Starks and Johnson.
David Stern is in a very tough predicament on this one, and it’s of his own making. A one-game suspension for Horry goes without saying. But if Stern follows the rule to the letter, he must suspend Stoudemire and Diaw for Game 5 as well.
That would mean rewarding the Spurs for Horry’s actions. And it would all but doom the Suns, who have all the momentum in the series after closing Game 4 with a 12-1 run and stealing it on the Spurs’ home floor, 104-98.
Game 5 is tomorrow night in Phoenix, and the Suns would stand little chance to beat the superior Spurs without their All-NBA center, Stoudemire, and Diaw, a valuable backup.
First of all, the Suns’ immediate explanation – that Stoudemire was on his way to the scorer’s table to check back into the game as part of an offensive-defensive substitution pattern – is absurd. But that’s their story, and you can’t blame them for sticking to it considering their best shot at winning an NBA title is at stake. There is no way such a transparent explanation gets past Stern and disciplinary chief Stu Jackson.
As of early this afternoon, a league spokesman said there’s no word yet on the timing of any disciplinary announcements. But they’re expected today, if nothing else to give the teams enough time to make adjustments for Game 5.
It’s a nightmare scenario any way you look at it. If NBA officials aren’t already petrified of the Spurs dragging down the TV ratings for the NBA Finals, there is no doubt the broadcast partners feel that way. But that is not the point – or shouldn’t be.
The point is, should Stern enforce his no-leaving-the-bench rule without regard for the star power of the player involved? That has been his history, in case anyone has forgotten Carmelo Anthony’s 15-game suspension for throwing a punch that escalated the December brawl between the Knicks and Nuggets at the Garden.
What makes sense is that the league should consider that Stoudemire and Diaw got up and took a few steps in the heat of the moment, then retreated once they realized the consequences of their actions. Neither player got involved in the altercation, nor did either player appear to have intentions to do so.
But I can hear Stern’s harsh explanation reverberating between my eardrums already: The posture or intentions of a player leaving the bench cannot be left up to interpretation. That is why the rule is as black-and-white as it is. Leave the bench during a fight, and you are suspended for the next game. Case closed.
Which means enjoy the Spurs-Jazz in the Western Conference Finals. And congratulate Horry for the biggest shot of his storied playoff career. No, it doesn’t seem right or fair. But that’s the rule.