World Peace elbows Harden, gets ejected

[JBoom_LALALAND]

Out for 7 games. WIll miss the entire first round.

[Spree#8]

7 games... wow, really? I guess the league desperately wants to ensure Lakers aren't weakened for long in the playoffs. If Artest was playing for a small market team, the suspension would likely be much longer.

Kevin Love plays for a small market team, Minnesota, and yet he only got 2 games for stomping on Luis Scola's mouth while he was down.
A move that is even illegal in the UFC. Why are people not demanding Love's head on the guillotine or even considering him banned from the NBA, the USA, and be exiled to Canada?
The reactions against Artest make it sound like he eats babies to a person who has no clue to what Artest did to Harden.
Besides, the 'short' suspension is Stern's one way of paying back to the Lakers for that aborted Chris Paul trade.

While I agree that Love's suspension was too low as well, he is not Ron Artest. This is yet another time he's done something this stupid and that's why I think the punishment should be more harsh. Anyway, a big reason why the suspension is so short is probably the likely LAL-OKC 2nd round matchup - there will now be a lot more controversy around it, so they want Artest back for that series. He'll only miss any of the 2nd round games (provided Lakers get there, of course) if the 1st round lasts less than 6 games.

Chris Paul trade was stupid and unfair. Besides, they later got Ramon Sessions for Luke Walton (!!!) and Jordan Hill for Derek Fisher. There goes your payback.

[volsey]

How can you even bring up Love's incident? One was pretty clearly an accident (Love's foot got tripped up and his other foot was forced to stop him from falling, unfortunately it landed on Scola's face), and I don't know how you cannot take into account the player in question (Artest).

He's missed 116 games (fun fact) due to suspensions during his career.

[shadowgrin]

How can you even bring up Love's incident? One was pretty clearly an accident (Love's foot got tripped up and his other foot was forced to stop him from falling, unfortunately it landed on Scola's face)

Yeah looking at a guy while he's down then accidentally letting him have a taste of your shoe to his mouth then not even stopping after that accident to see if he's ok clearly shows that Love is innocent.

Chris Paul trade was stupid and unfair. Besides, they later got Ramon Sessions for Luke Walton (!!!) and Jordan Hill for Derek Fisher. There goes your payback.

Chris Paul != Ramon Sessions + Jordan Hill.

he is not Ron Artest. This is yet another time he's done something this stupid and that's why I think the punishment should be more harsh.

He's missed 116 games (fun fact) due to suspensions during his career.

Well it is more harsh (more games) compared to league standards and past league suspensions on elbowing.
Before Artest, the maximum number of games an offender was suspended due to elbowing in the last 17 years (94-95 season) was no more than 2 games (fun fact).


http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/fines.html

12/30/05
The NBA suspended Kobe Bryant (LAL) for 2 games for his flagrant elbow to Mike Miller (Mem) in the throat during Wednesday's Mem-LAL game. Bryant
also commented after the game that he planned on fouling hard the next player who came down the lane when he fouled Miller

lol

[Dc311]

You could also bring up Baron Davis's hit to the back of T.J. Ford which ultimately ended his career.But he did go back to check on him right away.

I will stay out of this one though.

[Andrew]

Stern: World Peace's past weighed in suspension

David Stern said Wednesday the elbow that Metta World Peace used to give James Harden a concussion was ''recklessly thrown'' and the Los Angeles Lakers forward's history absolutely weighed into the suspension.

The NBA commissioner suspended World Peace for seven games Tuesday, a penalty that could force him out of the entire first round of the playoffs, for the elbow he delivered to Harden's head in a game against Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Stern said during a conference call that he took many things into account, including World Peace's numerous past troubles. World Peace, who changed his name from Ron Artest, received an 86-game suspension in 2004 - the longest ban for an on-court incident in NBA history - for jumping into the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills in the Detroit suburbs to fight fans.

I think that it's only fair, and appropriate, to consider his past infractions when handing down the suspension. There's got to be an element of "Really, Ron? Again?" at play here and I can't blame the league office for feeling that way.

[[Q]]

Jason Smith takes out Blake Griffin = 2 games
Kevin Love steps on Scola = 2 games
--------
Bynum takes out Barea = 5 games
MWP retaliates after Harden interrupts his celebration = 7 games

does race make a difference here?

it's a bit unfair to judge him by his past because that was 8 years ago and imo he's a changed man. but it would be a PR nightmare if one of the two people responsible for the Malice at the Palace were let off easy

[Spree#8]

Chris Paul != Ramon Sessions + Jordan Hill.

Yeah, not like they gave away Gasol and Odom for Sessions and Hill, like they were supposed to for Paul.

Well it is more harsh (more games) compared to league standards and past league suspensions on elbowing.
Before Artest, the maximum number of games an offender was suspended due to elbowing in the last 17 years (94-95 season) was no more than 2 games (fun fact).

Elbowing in the head?

[Andrew]

Jason Smith takes out Blake Griffin = 2 games
Kevin Love steps on Scola = 2 games
--------
Bynum takes out Barea = 5 games
MWP retaliates after Harden interrupts his celebration = 7 games

does race make a difference here?

Oh, let's not go there.

it's a bit unfair to judge him by his past because that was 8 years ago and imo he's a changed man. but it would be a PR nightmare if one of the two people responsible for the Malice at the Palace were let off easy

A changed man? From just last year:

phpBB [video]

He's still prone to these incidents, these lapses in judgment or whatever we care to call them. It doesn't make him History's Greatest Monster, of course, but it's fair for the league to consider his previous actions and send a message that basically amounts to "It's about time you woke up and stopped doing this kind of stuff".

[[Q]]

^ to be fair, he did leave his hand on his back in concern plus Barea is a bit shorter than everybody else so reaching in for a steal on him isn't exactly going for a steal against Shaun Livingston.

[shadowgrin]

Elbowing in the head?

Did you see what I quoted there or even the link I posted?
A hit on the throat is much worse than a hit on the head because the throat has no protection. A direct strike to the throat is even illegal in UFC or MMA? as compared to elbows or punches to the head.

3/24/12
The NBA suspended Arron Afflalo (Den) for 1 game for throwing an elbow to
Gordon Hayward's (Uta) head during Friday's Den-Uta game.

4/14/09
The NBA suspended Ray Allen (Bos) for 1 game for elbowing Anderson Varejao
(Cle) in the groin during Sunday's Bos-Cle game.

12/15/07
The NBA suspended Kenyon Martin (Den) for 1 game for his flagrant foul on
Melvin Ely (NO) during Wednesday's Den-NO game. Martin's elbow hit Ely
in the face and resulted in Ely suffering a fractured left eye socket.

4/18/05
The NBA suspended Vlade Divac (LAL) for 2 games for his intentionally thrown
elbow that connected with Shawn Bradley's (Dal) chin during Sunday's Dal-LAL
game.

11/14/04
The NBA suspended Danny Fortson (Sea) for 1 game for throwing an elbow at
the head of Chris Bosh (Tor) during Friday's Sea-Tor game. He was also
assessed a flagrant foul for the thrown elbow.

5/17/04
The NBA suspended Anthony Peeler (Sac) for 2 games for throwing an elbow
that hit Kevin Garnett (Min) in the chin

11/8/01
The NBA fined Keon Clark (Tor) $7,500 and suspended him for 1 game for
throwing an elbow at Troy Murphy's (GS) head during Wednesday's GS-Tor
game.

4/10/98
The NBA fined Karl Malone (Uta) $5,000 and suspended him for one game for
throwing an elbow that knocked David Robinson (SA) unconscious in
Wednesday's Uta-SA game. The league said that the contact was
unintentional, but Malone should not have been swinging his elbows.

5/16/97
The NBA fined Kevin Willis (Hou) $10,000 for elbowing Shawn Kemp (Sea)
in the mouth and fined Kemp $5,000 for pushing Willis' head.

4/28/97
The NBA fined Sam Mitchell (Min) $10,000 for his flagrant foul 2 against
Kevin Willis (Hou) during Saturday's Min-Hou game. Willis was also fined
$7,500 for his flagrant foul 1 of elbowing Mitchell in the head during the
game.

Jason Smith takes out Blake Griffin = 2 games
Kevin Love steps on Scola = 2 games
--------
Bynum takes out Barea = 5 games
MWP retaliates after Harden interrupts his celebration = 7 games

does race make a difference here?

it's a bit unfair to judge him by his past because that was 8 years ago and imo he's a changed man.

Nope. imo, the brawl wasn't taken into account. If we exclude what he did to Barea last year it's been six years since Artest last got suspended for hitting a player on the court. What he did to Barea probably pushed the number of suspension past 5 games and if Stern took into account the brawl, Artest would have been given at least 10 games.

[Andrew]

^ to be fair, he did leave his hand on his back in concern plus Barea is a bit shorter than everybody else so reaching in for a steal on him isn't exactly going for a steal against Shaun Livingston.

It doesn't change the fact he took a cheap shot out of frustration in the first place. The point is, he's still suffering these lapses in judgement/letting his emotions get the better of him.

[Phil89]

[Dc311]

That is fucking hilarious.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

6th man of the year with Bloated face.

[[Q]]

3/24/12
The NBA suspended Arron Afflalo (Den) for 1 game for throwing an elbow to
Gordon Hayward's (Uta) head during Friday's Den-Uta game.

phpBB [video]

i think this is important because it happened within the last month

[Bulls#1]

3/24/12
The NBA suspended Arron Afflalo (Den) for 1 game for throwing an elbow to
Gordon Hayward's (Uta) head during Friday's Den-Uta game.

phpBB [video]

i think this is important because it happened within the last month

He just got a mark on the face: WELCOME TO THE NBA!

[NovU]

I was actually surprised how many basketball fans out there thought the 7-game punishment is too much for Artest. Well... mostly the Lakers fan at least. I guess they're right in the sense that previous other players' actions could be viewed just as awful.

This actually makes me think maybe the punishment just isn't strict enough for the hard fouls that could result to big injuries.

[Patr1ck]

As long as this isn't a special case and all other infractions of this nature by any player are given similar suspensions.

I thought people got used to calling him world peace, but after this I hear a lot of them referring to him as Artest.

[Bulls#1]

Well I think that's because of the word PEACE

[Andrew]

I thought people got used to calling him world peace, but after this I hear a lot of them referring to him as Artest.

It's probably going to take a little while longer for everyone to get used to it, though in some cases it may be deliberate given the comparisons to previous incidents that took place before his name change.

[benji]

It's because I don't want to type "World Peace" when "Artest" is shorter. I tried out "Metta" but it wasn't working.

[Andrew]

MWP seems to be popular. It is quite close to MVP though and that doesn't exactly describe the season he's had.

[benji]

Also, I'm honoring his parents.

[Sauru]

I watched a video of some of the worst flagrant fouls and even though what artest did was horrible it was by no means the worst, not even close. I think some of the hits bynum has put on players is much worse. Blake griffin has pretty much been tackled on the court several times , remember that Jason smith one? and as much as I want to say artest is 100% wrong harden did kinda slide in his way. As I watch the video I just keep wondering why harden would step to the left and make sure he got in front of artest. I feel he got what he wanted, an ejection