Sportsmanship, gamesmanship, championship

[GSH]

There is a description of the play that D'Antoni whined about until he got ejected in the last game. It also has a link to a video clip of the play.
http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=570004475

Posted by: Chris Bernucca

If you were wondering why Suns coach Mike D'Antoni was thrown out of Sunday's game with his team leading by 24 points and about 3 1/2 minutes to play, he was upset with the apparent lack of poor sportsmanship on this play. http://youtube.com/watch?v=LLOJ7aSz82U

At least according to this juvenile site, which indicts Horry for the above play, last year's hip-check on Steve Nash, baseball's steroid scandal and the war in Iraq.

The post says the announcers are "completely oblivious" to Horry's heinous transgression. Perhaps they are completely oblivious because what Horry did is considered a smart play at virtually all levels of the game.

I think I was 9 or 10 when I first threw the ball off a defender to retain possession. Any coach who knows anything about the game will tell his players to use it as a strategy to keep the ball or not waste a timeout.

Now, do you throw it off the defender's face? No. That would be poor sportsmanship. Danny Ainge did that to Mario Elie in a playoff series in the 1990s (sorry, folks, couldn't find a clip of that), and Elie - about to advance while Ainge was headed home - let it go. If it had happened during the regular season, a hockey game may have broken out.

But regardless of how hard Horry threw the ball off Amare Stoudemire, it was at his legs. In fact, you are supposed to throw the ball hard and below the defender's waist, so he has less of a chance of handling it.

What Horry did was unconventional, sneaky and a bit devious. It also was perfectly legal and a very smart basketball play. And in no way was it dirty. You don't collect seven rings without some savvy and court sense.

D'Antoni, the Suns and their fans may be looking for some motivational tools that can help them hang on in their series against the Spurs, which is fine. That's gamesmanship, which also occasionally crosses the line, but not here.

In this case, Planet Orange needs to look elsewhere, because what Horry did was not unsportsmanlike or dirty. It wasn't even close.

Now, if you're looking for unsportsmanlike or dirty, peep this.

[SpurAddict561]

wow does he ever stop crying?

I turned the game off before this happened, so this is the first I'm hearing of it

[mrcoon29]

Are you kidding me? that is what Stache was upset about? What a tool.

[Louie Vega]

Imagine having a crybaby coach like that on your team? No wonder the suns are a bunch of hoes!

[MI21]

You got to be kidding me? Every NBA player currently playing will have done that at least once. Some of them hundreds of times.

There is not a bigger pussy whinger than Pringles boy.