Last night during two pretty intense bball games a couple of fouls transpired that caught attention. First off I will talk about Dwight Howard’s elbow to Sammy Dalembert dome in the Orlando vs. Philly game. During the first quarter of the game D12 and Dalembert were battling under the basket for position on a Rashard Lewis 3 pointer. When Lewis sank/sunk the 3, Dalembert went to walk under the basket to pass the ball in. Instead, Howard grabbed his arm and brought him in for a nice elbow to the back of the head. After reviewing the play the NBA has suspended Howard for game 6 .
In final seconds of OT in the Celtics/Bulls game, Brad Miller had a WIDE open lay up to tie the game and essentially bring the game into double OT. On his way to the basket, Miller was met by 3 Celtics, Rondo, Pierce and Perkins. Both Perkins and Rondo fouled Miller but Perkins was legitimately going for the ball, while Rondo was WAY behind Miller and went for his head.. All Rondo could really do to prevent the lay up at that point was slap Miller in the face and that is exactly what he did.
Now this where I have a problem with the Howard suspension. Should D12 have been suspended? Most definitely! Everyone knows Dwight is one of the biggest dudes on Earth and a cheap shot to the head by him or anyone else should not be tolerated. With that being said, why wasn’t Rondo assessed a game suspension as well? As far as I know, the NBA states that any blow to the head its considered a flagrant and then the league reviews the play and decides if any further action should be taken. I have heard that the league reviewed both plays but I would really like to know the difference? Is it because Rondo is a smaller person or because it looked “less lethal”? I watched both things happen and it really looked like Miller was worse for the wear compared to Dalembert?
So what do you think? Below is a video of both incidents, so let me know if you think either, neither or both deserved the punishment they got. Try and watch this ASAP as the NBA loves to take their videos down randomly.
Peace!
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First of all Dwight Howard's elbow on his own teammate was the worst of all the plays that night, fractured sinus does not sound pleasant.
Howard should have been ejected from that game immediately after throwing that bow, clearly the referees did not see the clear intent he had. If he had been removed from game 5 there would be no need for the league to take further action, especially because it was fairly early in the game. But since he continued in the game it seems a suitable punishment that he miss game 6.
The Rondo foul blows my mind. I don't understand how that was not called a flagrant foul? He says he was making a play on the ball but I guess he thought his arm was 3 feet longer than it really was and instead of hitting the ball he got all head. The play won the Celtics the game, but if it was correctly ruled as a flagrant foul who knows what would have happened next. He clearly deserves a suspension for it, you can't just be open handing dudes in the face. Seriously when Charles Barkley is calling for a flagrant foul you know it ain't pretty.