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NBA 2011-2012 Season


The Imp's Advocate

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I just don't know how it took so long for Artest to show his true colors again. I still am not sure how you can ever play in the league again after hitting a paying customer to your product.

I watched this just the other day. Artest was assaulted before he snapped and lost his mind. A fan threw a beer, AND the bottle at him. I don't excuse his behavior at all, but I think the full year suspension was enough punishment for that particular crime.

His cheap shot on Hardin should get him a series off for the playoffs. No excuse for that at all.

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I can't believe he still claims it was unintentional. Watching that video, it is clearly a malicious blow. They bumped into each other, he raised his arm much higher than it had been in celebration, then there is an extreme wind up and follow through, and a vicious snarl on his face at the moment of contact that doesn't look like a wince of pain, but like an exclamation of victory. What a moronic asshole.

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Looks like the initial clearance was wrong - Harden does have a concussion. He's almost definitely not playing in the last two games and depending on when the playoffs would start for them, might miss a couple of those.

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I don't know too much about NBA suspensions and what typical punishments are. But to me, looking at this "play", I think he should be suspended for the rest of the year. If this were a first offense, it would be different. But he has a long history of these kinds of dangerous outbursts, and the league has to show that it is done with giving him the benefit of the doubt. Artest/MWP needs the NBA a lot more than the NBA needs him.

Also, ESPN had a montage of his various outbursts, and it didn't even include mention of the Battle at the Palace incident. I wonder if the NBA refuses to allow rebroadcast of that video? And without video, ESPN chose not to include it at all? Because if you're talking about the history of Ron Artest's on and slightly off-court incidents, it is downright negligent to ignore that.

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7 games for Artest. I think it would be great to have the pro sports (maybe others as well) institute a rule change that have the perpitrator "miss" as many games as the target and then start the mandated suspension duration once the target is able to play a game again. it would be considered part of the suspension, but would be variable based on the length of time the player is out. I just can't abide cheap play/cheap shots.

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I likewise don't see 7 games as a particularly stiff penalty. Sure, it's probably one series for the Lakers, but they have more than enough talent to beat the Nuggets between Kobe, Gasol and Bynum. And then he's back for the second round against the real contenders.

MWP is the worst kind of repeat offender in the NBA, he has had an incident like this nearly every season (last year notwithstanding). I don't know why this kind of violence is tolerated. I can't help but wonder if the penalty would have been worse had he still played for the Pacers.

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I likewise don't see 7 games as a particularly stiff penalty.

It is significantly longer than anyone has received for throwing an elbow in the past. 6 games longer I believe so it's pretty stiff by NBA standards. I don't get the huge outcry over this honestly, he swung his elbow and connected. Anytime any basketball player has ever swung his elbowst they are doing it to injure the other player, not just Ron Artest. Some former greats used to do it far more maliciously than this Artest elbow, like Karl Malone for example.

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It is significantly longer than anyone has received for throwing an elbow in the past. 6 games longer I believe so it's pretty stiff by NBA standards. I don't get the huge outcry over this honestly, he swung his elbow and connected. Anytime any basketball player has ever swung his elbowst they are doing it to injure the other player, not just Ron Artest. Some former greats used to do it far more maliciously than this Artest elbow, like Karl Malone for example.

The NBA used to allow all sorts of thuggery they don't anymore. Karl Malone has been gone for a long time. If a player is swinging his elbow in a basketball play, it is obviously a different story. But a cheap shot like this, after the play, from a repeat offender? No reason for leniency. If that's the way they've always done it, then it's time for things to change.

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I'm good with the 7 games. As much as the NBA doesn't want to admit that players like Artest are needed in the NBA, they are. He does the dirty work under the boards, plays good to great D, gets under the skin of those he is defending, can occasionally contribute on offense, etc. I see him much like a Rodman, Malone, 'Sheed, Laimbeer...those kind of guys.

He's been a remarkably good "citizen" post brawl at the Palace, I think 3-4 suspensions since then...compared to before that I think 14 or so? I dunno, maybe I'm biased since I'm a Lakers fan, but I know we don't have a chance in hell at winning another championship this year.

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Yeah, I can live with 7. My initial reaction was 10, so this is a little light, but it's the right order of magnitude.

BTW, I do not agree that he should be out for as long as Harden is plus extra. I don't think these kinds of suspensions should be linked to the severity of injury caused, because it diminishes them as deterrants. You suspend for the fact that he made an extra-basketballular move that could have no other result than injuring someone here. If Harden was fine, this wouldn't be a 2-game-worthy suspension; and if Harden never plays again, it wouldn't be worth a lifetime ban.

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So the play-offs probably look like this, first round:

East:

Chicago Bulls- Philadelphia

Miami Heat- New York Knicks

Indiana Pacers-Orlando Magic

Atlanta Hawks-Boston Celtics

West:

San Antonio Spurs-Utah Jazz

Oklahoma City Thunder- Dallas Mavericks

La Lakers- Denver Nuggets

Memphis Grizzlies- LA Clippers

In bold to go through per my prediction.

The Knicks have staged quite the comeback but the Miami Heat are going to be too good for them, I'd actually give them a better chance if they played the Bulls, but even they would have been the underdog.

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I'm just dumbfounded at Charlotte. Some team is going to be the worst in the league...but in a 66 game schedule, they are 42 games out of first place.in the East. They're 12 games out of 2nd to last. Last game is against NY who is still jockeying with Philly for 7th/8th, so i'm guessing NY isn't going to mail it in to let anyone rest.

Your 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats...worst team ever.

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I was hoping for the Magic to lose last night (a lot to hope for against the Bobcats, I know.) because I really wanted the Knicks to go up to 6, I think they could have handled the Pacers despite the widespread belief that Indiana is the sleeper threat this year. Miami is pretty much the worst case scenario for first round, I don't thik they would have beat the Bulls, but they would probably have been more competitive against them than against James and Co.

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The NBA used to allow all sorts of thuggery they don't anymore. Karl Malone has been gone for a long time. If a player is swinging his elbow in a basketball play, it is obviously a different story. But a cheap shot like this, after the play, from a repeat offender? No reason for leniency. If that's the way they've always done it, then it's time for things to change.

For a more recent example of an elbow far more malicious than Artests, see Dwight Howard in the playoffs from 3-4 years ago. No, he didn't actually connect hard but that's irrelevant. Howard deliberately tried to injure Sam Dalembert in a non basketball move and yet he only got 1 game. And again, 7 games is not lenient in the NBA when 6 of those are potentially playoff games.

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