Man of Steel
05-18-2007, 10:42 AM
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Pushing and Shoving
Jazz's Fisher says perception of rough play magnified by playoffs
By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News
San Antonio's Bruce Bowen knees Phoenix's Steve Nash where no man should be kneed. Golden State's Baron Davis clocks Utah's Derek Fisher in the side of the head, for no good reason. Golden State's Jason Richardson flagrantly sends Utah's Mehmet Okur flying to the floor, backside first. San Antonio's Robert Horry hip-checks Nash into a scorer's table, prompting Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw to rush toward the fray.
LM Otero, Associated PressThe Spurs' Robert Horry tussles with the Suns' Steve Nash. Horry was suspended two games for his actions. Hockey? Pro wrestling? Ultimate fighting?
Basketball, actually.
The NBA.
But it's not as bad as it seems, suggests Fisher, who besides working as the Jazz's starting shooting guard and backup point guard moonlights as president of the NBA Players Association.
And it's certainly no worse than it's been in the past, he says.
Rather, Fisher believes, the black eye that to so many looks uglier by the day can be explained away with one word.
Playoffs.
"I think now, because there are so few incidents, when there are incidents it's just completely magnified," said Fisher, whose Jazz have advanced to next week's Western Conference finals after beating Davis and Richardson's Warriors 4-1 in their best-of-seven conference semifinal series. "Not necessarily blown out of proportion, but there is so much more focus on situations when they happen.
"I don't think that it's any more, or less, physical than playoffs in the past," Fisher added. "I don't think guys are — on any team, for that matter — setting out to hurt guys, or injure guys, or just playing the game to be fouling guys in a flagrant matter."
Take the Horry-Nash incident in the ongoing Spurs-Suns series, which resulted in Horry being suspended two games by the league (one for his sending Nash flying, another for striking ex-Jazz guard Raja Bell of the Suns in the aftermath) and Stoudemire and Diaw being suspended one game for leaving Phoenix's bench area.
August Miller, Deseret Morning NewsDerek Fisher reacts after he was hit in the head by Baron Davis. "Robert's one of the stand-up guys in the league," Fisher said of Horry, one of his former teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, "so even to think about him and his experience — and then, in just the flash of a moment, for him to make a decision that may ... cost his team — it just shows you how at this time of year people may do things that are out of character or that don't seem fair or are not the right thing."
Ditto, Fisher suggests, for the unwarranted blow to his head by Davis, another former teammate from his days with the Warriors.
There have been a few other incidents in this year's postseason, too, including a flagrant foul that former Jazz big man Mikki Moore inflicted Monday on ex-Jazz swingman Sasha Pavlovic in the Eastern Conference's second-round series between New Jersey and Cleveland.
"But to question who (people) are and whether they intended to hurt somebody — I think that's kind of taking it a little too far," Fisher said.
Fisher, winner of three NBA title rings during his days in L.A., speaks from experience.
"When I was with the Lakers," he said, "people would try all sorts of stuff with Shaq (O'Neal)."
Now it's new faces but same sordid behavior.
Part of Fisher — who remains on good terms with Davis and hugged the Golden State guard after the Jazz-Warriors series ended Tuesday — accepts that that's simply the way it is when the stakes are so high. Another part, though, wishes the players belonging to the union over which he presides would take time to remember whose eyes, and just how many, are upon them all.
"Because of the fact there is so much attention to each play in each game in each matchup," Fisher said, "then it makes it seem as though when there is one flagrant foul situation, all a sudden there is a question about whether or not the entire playoffs have been marred.
"That's the good and bad of where our game is today," he added. "I mean, it's a game that people around the world are watching and paying attention to every move, every shot, every play. And I think we, as players, should understand that and be able to take advantage of it — in good ways — and be able to manage ourselves to stay away from the negative things."
E-mail: [email protected]
Pushing and Shoving
Jazz's Fisher says perception of rough play magnified by playoffs
By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News
San Antonio's Bruce Bowen knees Phoenix's Steve Nash where no man should be kneed. Golden State's Baron Davis clocks Utah's Derek Fisher in the side of the head, for no good reason. Golden State's Jason Richardson flagrantly sends Utah's Mehmet Okur flying to the floor, backside first. San Antonio's Robert Horry hip-checks Nash into a scorer's table, prompting Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw to rush toward the fray.
LM Otero, Associated PressThe Spurs' Robert Horry tussles with the Suns' Steve Nash. Horry was suspended two games for his actions. Hockey? Pro wrestling? Ultimate fighting?
Basketball, actually.
The NBA.
But it's not as bad as it seems, suggests Fisher, who besides working as the Jazz's starting shooting guard and backup point guard moonlights as president of the NBA Players Association.
And it's certainly no worse than it's been in the past, he says.
Rather, Fisher believes, the black eye that to so many looks uglier by the day can be explained away with one word.
Playoffs.
"I think now, because there are so few incidents, when there are incidents it's just completely magnified," said Fisher, whose Jazz have advanced to next week's Western Conference finals after beating Davis and Richardson's Warriors 4-1 in their best-of-seven conference semifinal series. "Not necessarily blown out of proportion, but there is so much more focus on situations when they happen.
"I don't think that it's any more, or less, physical than playoffs in the past," Fisher added. "I don't think guys are — on any team, for that matter — setting out to hurt guys, or injure guys, or just playing the game to be fouling guys in a flagrant matter."
Take the Horry-Nash incident in the ongoing Spurs-Suns series, which resulted in Horry being suspended two games by the league (one for his sending Nash flying, another for striking ex-Jazz guard Raja Bell of the Suns in the aftermath) and Stoudemire and Diaw being suspended one game for leaving Phoenix's bench area.
August Miller, Deseret Morning NewsDerek Fisher reacts after he was hit in the head by Baron Davis. "Robert's one of the stand-up guys in the league," Fisher said of Horry, one of his former teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, "so even to think about him and his experience — and then, in just the flash of a moment, for him to make a decision that may ... cost his team — it just shows you how at this time of year people may do things that are out of character or that don't seem fair or are not the right thing."
Ditto, Fisher suggests, for the unwarranted blow to his head by Davis, another former teammate from his days with the Warriors.
There have been a few other incidents in this year's postseason, too, including a flagrant foul that former Jazz big man Mikki Moore inflicted Monday on ex-Jazz swingman Sasha Pavlovic in the Eastern Conference's second-round series between New Jersey and Cleveland.
"But to question who (people) are and whether they intended to hurt somebody — I think that's kind of taking it a little too far," Fisher said.
Fisher, winner of three NBA title rings during his days in L.A., speaks from experience.
"When I was with the Lakers," he said, "people would try all sorts of stuff with Shaq (O'Neal)."
Now it's new faces but same sordid behavior.
Part of Fisher — who remains on good terms with Davis and hugged the Golden State guard after the Jazz-Warriors series ended Tuesday — accepts that that's simply the way it is when the stakes are so high. Another part, though, wishes the players belonging to the union over which he presides would take time to remember whose eyes, and just how many, are upon them all.
"Because of the fact there is so much attention to each play in each game in each matchup," Fisher said, "then it makes it seem as though when there is one flagrant foul situation, all a sudden there is a question about whether or not the entire playoffs have been marred.
"That's the good and bad of where our game is today," he added. "I mean, it's a game that people around the world are watching and paying attention to every move, every shot, every play. And I think we, as players, should understand that and be able to take advantage of it — in good ways — and be able to manage ourselves to stay away from the negative things."
E-mail: [email protected]