McDonald: Lakers-Blazers Fracas Unlikely To Affect Spurs

[duncan228]

Lakers-Blazers fracas unlikely to affect Spurs (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/2009/03/lakersblazers-a.html#more)
By Jeff McDonald

With the Lakers set to visit San Antonio later this week, it is probably worthwhile to track the aftermath of their fracas in Portland last night (http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-fyi11-2009mar11,0,7221553.story).

The league said today that Trevor Ariza will not be suspended for his takedown of Rudy Fernandez, which resulted in the Trail Blazers guard being carted off the court on the stretcher. Lamar Odom might not get off so easy.

TV replays show Odom came off the bench during the melee, and NBA rules are fairly cut and dried here. As Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw learned in the 2007 playoffs, if you come off the bench, you get suspended.

Precedent would seem to dictate that Odom will ultimately be suspended for the Lakers game at Houston on Wednesday. Considering Odom didn't do anything more after wandering from the bench area — and in fact, might have been trying to play a peacemaker role — it is doubtful he will miss Thursday's game against the Spurs.

According to the Los Angeles Times story linked above, the league is also looking at Sasha Vujacic, who also wandered from the bench during the scrape, but did not venture as far as Odom.

[dougp]

No reason for excuses.

[SenorSpur]

Odom may very well be available for Thursday game versus the Spurs, but based on how he's performed as of late, some would question whether or not he's all there.

[MarHill]

No reason for excuses.

Yep, I want everybody for them to play.

No excuses!!!

[xtremesteven33]

So why is Odom playing badly??

mental focus?
injury?
cause hes Odom???

[AussieFanKurt]

why isnt ariza being suspended?

[dougp]

why isnt ariza being suspended?

Cause he plays for the Lakers ...

[porscha]

why isnt ariza being suspended?

any one ever get suspended from laker or celtics??????????
This is disgusting.
Fuck the nba.

Watch out for karma... Agian..fakers.

[hater]

Vujachick was probably running scared to the locker room

[Morg1411]

Cause he plays for the Lakers ...

Yeah...pretty much. Oh, well.

[crc21209]

I really think that if one of the Blazers hit Kobe like that and didnt get suspended every Laker fan in here would be calling for a suspension against that player.

[Texas_Ranger]

Vujachick was probably running scared to the locker room

I was thinking the same thing.:lol

[Spursmania]

I really think that if one of the Blazers hit Kobe like that and didnt get suspended every Laker fan in here would be calling for a suspension against that player.

:tu

[hater]

I really think that if one of the Blazers hit Kobe like that and didnt get suspended every Laker fan in here would be calling for a suspension against that player.

shit, I am surprised not many Laker fans called for Fernandez suspension for such a blatant flop

[Mark in Austin]

shit, I am surprised not many Laker fans called for Fernandez suspension for such a blatant flop


I'm surprised JA Adande hasn't written a column yet demanding the same thing...

[Spursmania]

shit, I am surprised not many Laker fans called for Fernandez suspension for such a blatant flop

But hater, this guy left on a stretcher with a neck brace and stayed overnight at the hospital. How many floppers you see fake to be hurt just so they can leave in a stretcher and not come back in the game. Come on, this was not an academy award performance by Fernandez. The guy got hurt.:wakeup

[easy7]

How many floppers you see fake to be hurt just so they can leave in a stretcher and not come back in the game.
Man, that was a hell of a flop! Sold it like a wrestler... :lol

[Walton Buys Off Me]

Two things in this bit that make me laugh;

1. Where was this aforementioned rule when the Celtics left their bench in last year's playoffs vs. the Hawks? Was the rule not applicable in 2008? The same playoff series that saw Kevin Garnett throw a punch and also mysteriously avoid even a fine. Oh wait the Celtics won the title that year right? At least the league is consistent.
2. What business does Sasha Vujacic have in a melee? Is he approaching guys offering to brush their hair? Absurd. Vujacic and Jason Terry wouldn't come out on top of a WNBA melee.

[Supergirl]

So why is Odom playing badly??

mental focus?
injury?
cause hes Odom???

because he sucks. dude has a string of 3 or 4 solid games and people think he's the best thing since sliced bread. but if he were capable of having good games night in and night out for the better part of an 82 game season, well, he'd have done it by now. any team that is counting on lamar odom to help them win a championship is in bad, bad shape. personally, i think this will be the lakers' downfall this year.

meanwhile, I'm sorry, but if a player is CARRIED OFF THE COURT IN A STRETCHER and the offending player is automatically ejected, said player should be suspended for at least a game. give me a freaking break. if the teams were flipped and it were Rudy Fernandez who pummeled a Laker to the ground, you can bet he'd be suspended. But the lakers get the princess treatment, always. grrrr.

[RollingBlackOut]

Vujachick was probably running scared to the locker room

:lol VujaCHICK..

[tmtcsc]

Rich Bucher called Kobe for an exclusive interview on the whole foul thing and Kobe responded with "dude, seriously...stop calling me and texting me."

[Spursmania]

Man, that was a hell of a flop! Sold it like a wrestler... :lol

Easy, we'd be pissed if Ariza did that to Manu or Timmy or Parker. You know that. You gotta play hard but not stupid. What Ariza did was stupid. (Even if Rudy learned some wrestling moves in Europe. lol...)

[GSH]

Doesn't affect the Spurs? Hell, it affects every other team in the league. I don't have to go into all the details about why - it's obvious enough. The league sent a message... everyone got it.


So why is Odom playing badly??

mental focus?
injury?
cause hes Odom???

Well, let's see. He got nailed for two violations of the league's anti-drug policy about six months apart. From what I understand, when he went to the Lakers, he got a pass on testing. It's a running joke with people he hangs out with. They talk about his best skill being puff-puff-pass.

He's always been a fucking head case. On the Lakers, he's bullet-proof.

[Borosai]

Bynum's lazy foul hurt someone. Ariza's frustration foul hurt someone. Kobe taking a chick's temperature with his pipi hurt someone. Vujacic's machinery hurt someone. Jackson's greasy chicken hurt someone.

Karma is coming.

[Bartleby]

Karma is coming.

I'd like to see it come during a Blazers/Lakers Western Conference semifinals.

[ILoveOranges]

Fuck the lakers

[WildcardManu]

I'd like to see it come during a Blazers/Lakers Western Conference semifinals.

Would be Epic.

[taps]

Karl Malone got away with it (again and again.) Kobe's Lakers will get away with it. Besides, Tim Legler thinks it was in no way intentional. That seals it. Why couldn't Fernandez be brave like Paul Pierce and come back later in the quarter after he's done watching The Simpsons in the locker room? A wheelchair's way worse if you ask me.
btw Borosai that is genius

edit: small flub

[duncan228]

McDonald added an update.


UPDATE: Word just came down from league. As expected, Odom has been suspended for the game against the Rockets. He will be available against the Spurs.

[m33p0]

what the hell?

they said that the rule was in place to prevent recklessness to avoid injuries which was why al thornton got suspended last year for a similar play. and what is so different about odom and sasha with what amare and diaw did?

[completely deck]

Just Odom, huh?

[milkyway21]

Ariza not suspended for what he did, and once upon a time Tim Duncan was suspended for simply touching ref Nies...

whatever...:rolleyes