The referees declared it a Flagrant 2 and Ariza was promptly ejected. A scrum ensued near the Lakers bench...notable players involved were Lamar Odom and Brandon Roy...there were several randoms on both sides.
Trevor Ariza deserves at least a 3 game suspension for this hit. The NBA has to send a message that these kinds of fouls are not acceptable. Quite frankly I'm a little disturbed at the Lakers in general. It wasn't so long ago that Andrew Bynum delivered a shot to Gerald Wallace which kept him out for several weeks. While Bynum got his appropriate punishment in the form of a knee injury, Ariza's fate has yet to be decided. When the commissioner's office reviews the tape of this flagrant I hope that the appropriate decision is made and Ariza is suspended. According to NBA rules every player who got off the bench during the proceeding altercation should also receive a suspension but we'll see if that actually materializes.
The NBA already ruled no suspension was necessary, and I agree with them.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, no player should have to be unfairly judged just to "send a message", as you put it. Punishment should never be to send a message, every play should be judged on its own merit.
Moreover, I don't think Ariza's play was dirty in the slightest. It looked like he was going for the ball, and missed badly.
The NBA is still reviewing, at least as of this morning, the play after Rudy got pummeled. Lamar came off the bench, and therefore should be ejected.