massive brawl at the garden

[El Coconuto]

If the NBA was played like the international style (more team/stratagy oriented), I would probably watch (only a little), but not the sh*te they pass off on us here!

Pretty indolent call given, by your own admission, that you haven't watched "ANY basketball (elementary kids up to NBA) in at least 10 years now." Since then, the international game is far less strategy and team orientated than it was in yesteryear.

Anyway, I don't think Stern was too harsh on Carmelo Anthony. No beef there. But if you're going to come down that hard on Anthony, there's NO BLOODY WAY that Nate Robinson gets any less than fifteen games as well. NO BLOODY WAY! He escalated everything. He trickled it into the fans. He unnecessarily got in the face of JR Smith. (By the way, he backed off from a fight later in the scruff as well, so it wasn't just Melo who pedalled) How the hell does he not get at least equal to Melo?

As for Isaiah Thomas getting off scot-free. I'm baffled. HOW MUCH EVIDENCE DO YOU NEED to prove he premidated something egreigious? Any lip-reader in the world will watch the ESPN coverage and tell you exactly what he told Anthony. If Willie Mason said to anyone "Don't run at me right now, it wouldn't be a good idea," you know he's going to cream you next play. How Isaiah got off clean without a bleep I have no idea.

David Stern is going off the deep end. The new basketball, the officiating directions, the suspensions (which are fine, just not consistent). Definately not his best era...

 

[douglasallen91]

lip readers haha. just look at the soccer world cup final, lip readers all came up with different things that was spoken

 

[El Coconuto]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=brawlquestions

Click on the "Isaiah Issued Warning" video on the side and be your own judge...

 

[douglasallen91]

i am on dial up, so won't work for me. but lip readers isn't enough proof to suspended someone.

 

[El Coconuto]

It isn't just lip reading. There is footage of him telling Anthony and Camby both to stay out of the paint or "something bad could happen." And then there is his post-game interview, where he virtually justified the foul, and then there's Nate Robinson AND Mardy Collins post-game interviews where as it turned out, they were following orders...

 

[yankeerugger]

I simply didn't like what I was watching about 10 years ago, and stoped watching, and didn't miss it. The little I have seen has only been on the local news, and occasionaly on ESPN sports center. This information has only seemed to reconfirm what I came to believe 10 years ago...

I still contend that the olymipic games are the only basketball that I will watch for the above mentioned reasons. My biggest fear is that my son (now 3 1/2) will end up playing basketball, and I'll have to go do all those dreadfull games and try to enjoy it.... Since he'll be tall, I'll have to work on this... will need to instill in him early that winter is ment for lifting and conditioning between football (gridiron) in the fall and Rugby in the spring!