Rofl, there's "overly aggressive dangerous hard fouls" and then there's what artest did which in my mind he may as well have just walked right up to harden and punched him in the head. He tried to disguise it but that was straight up assault and had no place in basketball.
Here's the video. He does a chest pound with his right arm and then his elbow to Harden's head. That's the whole motion. The gif covers the whole thing
On April 23 2012 08:36 RowdierBob wrote: Vindicare, you're a knowledgable, nice guy with passion for his team, but seriously your Lakers bias is in overload here. Artest is going to get a long ban for that. Maybe, maybe not the whole year, but he'll def be missing Playoff games.
That was as bad as cheap shots get.
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Pretty sure anyone looking at that gif would say it was intentional dude.
Like I said. If you're JUST looking at the gif it looks really intentional but if you add in the rest of the context it isn't quite as clear.
So you're saying the gif makes it seem like the elbow was intentional but everything else doesn't? Word? Is that the argument you're running with? The gif covers pretty much his whole "celebration" btw.
No it does not. There's videos that show the full celebration. That gif doesn't.
I'm also running with a full knowledge of the kind of guy Artest is. He gets REALLY tunnel visioned especially when he's worked up like that. It's totally possible he was just so wrapped up in the moment he didn't see Harden there.
That doesn't make what he did excusable. It doesn't. I've said that over and over again since this argument started that I don't think he shouldn't be punished. But as to whether it was intentional and deserves the maximum punishment the NBA can provide? That's where I'm disagreeing. I don't know whether or not he meant to deck Harden in the face, he says he didn't, others like you all here who watched in on television said he did.
On April 23 2012 08:36 RowdierBob wrote: Vindicare, you're a knowledgable, nice guy with passion for his team, but seriously your Lakers bias is in overload here. Artest is going to get a long ban for that. Maybe, maybe not the whole year, but he'll def be missing Playoff games.
That was as bad as cheap shots get.
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
On April 23 2012 08:36 RowdierBob wrote: Vindicare, you're a knowledgable, nice guy with passion for his team, but seriously your Lakers bias is in overload here. Artest is going to get a long ban for that. Maybe, maybe not the whole year, but he'll def be missing Playoff games.
That was as bad as cheap shots get.
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I did too. I was watching the game. I was just as disgusted when i saw it live as when i watch the gif. He didn't just throw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was caught up in the moment. He clearly knows that Harden was there. You can see harden's forearm make contact with Ron's body before the elbow is thrown.
Here lets not even watch the gif. Lets watch the video which has the entire context:
Yeah, thats no accident. The alternative explanation is bullshit. You cannot actually think he didn't know Harden was there. And he just happened to raise his arm enough so it landed on the head and not the body? Listen to what Mike Breen says, "What a disgrace."
If someone from the Thunder hit Kobe like that, the reaction from the league would be at least 3x worse. Good to see that they have normalized standards in the NBA (hey, at least its at the level of the bogus NHL suspension durations, right?)
On April 23 2012 08:36 RowdierBob wrote: Vindicare, you're a knowledgable, nice guy with passion for his team, but seriously your Lakers bias is in overload here. Artest is going to get a long ban for that. Maybe, maybe not the whole year, but he'll def be missing Playoff games.
That was as bad as cheap shots get.
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
On April 23 2012 09:33 Looms wrote: If someone from the Thunder hit Kobe like that, the reaction from the league would be at least 3x worse. Good to see that they have normalized standards in the NBA (hey, at least its at the level of the bogus NHL suspension durations, right?)
Yet when Dwayne Wade hit Kobe in the All-Star game, broke his nose and gave him a concussion I was on the "oh it was just a hard foul, no punishment deserved" team.
And if I haven't demonstrated how huge of a Kobe Bryant fan I am at this point I don't know what else I need to do.
Injury wise, the two fouls were totally equal if not favored in Kobe's direction because his nose was actually broken.
The only difference here is how bad it looks and who is the one delivering the foul.
On April 23 2012 08:36 RowdierBob wrote: Vindicare, you're a knowledgable, nice guy with passion for his team, but seriously your Lakers bias is in overload here. Artest is going to get a long ban for that. Maybe, maybe not the whole year, but he'll def be missing Playoff games.
That was as bad as cheap shots get.
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
Here is your problem. You are trying to figure out why Ron Artest did something. The man isn't mentally stable. This is a well known fact. One does not know why Ron Artest does what he does. This is the same man who asked for 2 months off from basketball to record a rap album.
On April 23 2012 08:44 Vindicare605 wrote: [quote]
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
Here is your problem. You are trying to figure out why Ron Artest did something. The man isn't mentally stable. This is a well known fact. One does not know why Ron Artest does what he does. This is the same man who asked for 2 months off from basketball to record a rap album.
I get it. You dislike Artest and want to see him burn. You have a personal stake in this that goes beyond what actually occurred during the game.
LA fans cheering Artest as he walks off the court. (Why are you even defending this guy in the first place? The fans do know his history right? Actually they probably don't, because most Laker fans are not true basketball fans.) Same city where a SF Giants fan was almost killed outside a Dodgers game last season. Keep cheering on that violence LA, stay classy.
On April 23 2012 09:33 Looms wrote: If someone from the Thunder hit Kobe like that, the reaction from the league would be at least 3x worse. Good to see that they have normalized standards in the NBA (hey, at least its at the level of the bogus NHL suspension durations, right?)
Yet when Dwayne Wade hit Kobe in the All-Star game, broke his nose and gave him a concussion I was on the "oh it was just a hard foul, no punishment deserved" team.
And if I haven't demonstrated how huge of a Kobe Bryant fan I am at this point I don't know what else I need to do.
Injury wise, the two fouls were totally equal if not favored in Kobe's direction because his nose was actually broken.
The only difference here is how bad it looks and who is the one delivering the foul.
1 is a basketball play. 1 is not a basketball play. besides fouls like dwade's happen all the time in normal games, but its just that it was an allstar game and usually no one plays tough defense there. i dont really see the comparison besides both incidents involving Laker players..
On April 23 2012 08:46 ranshaked wrote: [quote] No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
Here is your problem. You are trying to figure out why Ron Artest did something. The man isn't mentally stable. This is a well known fact. One does not know why Ron Artest does what he does. This is the same man who asked for 2 months off from basketball to record a rap album.
I get it. You dislike Artest and want to see him burn. You have a personal stake in this that goes beyond what actually occurred during the game.
I get it. Your a Lakers fan. You want to have one of your key players in the playoffs. You have a personal stake in this that goes beyond what actually occurred during the game.
On April 23 2012 08:44 Vindicare605 wrote: [quote]
I'm not saying he won't but long for the NBA is no more than a single playoff series.
If he's banned for the first round I'll consider that harsh but I won't argue with it.
If he's banned for the entire playoffs for that, that's an unprecedented level of punishment in this NBA, that's what I'd have a problem with, more because of unprecedence more than anything else.
No it isn't at least ten times players have been suspended for at least ten games for similar incidents including Carmelo Anthony.
This altercation was the most penalized on-court fight in the NBA since the Pacers–Pistons brawl two years before.
Carmelo Anthony was also criticized for harming his image as a star, and several writers said the league had penalized the players excessively because it wanted to keep its image free from violence.
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
Here is your problem. You are trying to figure out why Ron Artest did something. The man isn't mentally stable. This is a well known fact. One does not know why Ron Artest does what he does. This is the same man who asked for 2 months off from basketball to record a rap album.
He's also the guy who, after malice in the palace, asked if the players were going to get in trouble or not. This is a man who thanked his psychiatrist after he won the NBA finals...
Brawls in the NBA are a different catergory altogether. Artest has already stated publically that what he did today was unintentional. You cannot make any similar claim when it comes to a bench clearing brawl.
And even the brawl was criticized for being over-penalized. You think the NBA is really going to hand a punishment on that level to Artest for this?
Unlikely says I.
As a Pacers fan, I will just tell you this, stop trying to stick up for the guy. He will make your club crash and burn. He straight up ruined the Pacers for years. The brawl wasn't over-penalized.
And I dont give a shit what Artest says. He is clearly insane. Of course Ron is gonna say it was unintentional. Why wouldn't he? Dude has lied before you know.
My point on that is, you can actually look at the footage of that and say "Damn, that looks bad but I don't think he meant to do that."
Whether or not you want to is fine, because I won't deny it is an ugly hit to watch on a gif over and over again. But you can make that statement if you want.
You can't do that with a brawl. It's a whole other kind of thing.
For the record, it was the Nuggets-Knicks brawl that was considered overpenalized not the Pacers-Pistons.
Really? I don't think you can look at the footage and think that. How many years does Artest have left on his contract? Hopefully not many for the Lakers.
I saw the hit as it happened in the context in which it happened.
That gif doesn't show the full context it just shows the hit.
Artest was celebrating after a dunk like he always does and threw an elbow in the direction of a guy he may not have seen because he was so caught up in his moment.
I say may not, because I don't know. But that alternative explanation IS available. Which makes it very different from a brawl.
I'm sorry to say, but your bias is really showing there. I don't even know how you can try to defend what Artest did. Ofc it was intentionnal, there is no way he didnt felt Harden bump him.
Like I said. It isn't up for me to decide.
I'm sitting here with the same disbelief that there's people in here that think he went up the Harden with the full intention of hurting him because that clearly isn't what happened.
No one is arguing that he hit Harden hard, the question is why did he do it? You got a good enough look at it to know that he had full knowledge of what he was about to do beforehand and made a conscious decision to level a guy in the head? I didn't get that good enough of a look to make that call.
Here is your problem. You are trying to figure out why Ron Artest did something. The man isn't mentally stable. This is a well known fact. One does not know why Ron Artest does what he does. This is the same man who asked for 2 months off from basketball to record a rap album.
I get it. You dislike Artest and want to see him burn. You have a personal stake in this that goes beyond what actually occurred during the game.
I get it. Your a Lakers fan. You want to have one of your key players in the playoffs. You have a personal stake in this that goes beyond what actually occurred during the game.
I'm already ok with losing Artest for a few games of the playoffs because I think that's what he deserves. You're the one that won't be happy unless he's banned completely.
EPT
