NBA Special: Aggressive confrontations between players on the rise
As the regular season draws to a close, the players are starting to show some cracks after enduring close to 70 regular-season games. Constant travelling, back-to-back games, and player burnout have contributed to some players taking out their aggression
during games.
Two incidents in the same number of days have brought this fact to the fore.
As the Miami Heat played the Washington Wizards in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, it appeared as if the Heat centre elbowed the Rookie, John Wall on two occasions during a play on the three-point line. Wall, unable to contain his emotions, delivered
a right-hand jab into the ribs of 7-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Both players came face-to-face, with the confrontation taking on a more serious note when JaVale Mcgee and Juwan Howard became involved in the shoving on the floor. Finally, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra
had to step in to re-establish control over his team.
“Disappointed in the way I reacted. I let my teammates down, let the organization down," Wall said after the game, "I got hit with the first one; I stopped and waited. And the second one, I got hit, and I just reacted."
Wall, Howard and Ilgauskas were hit with Flagrant-2 fouls and were immediately ejected.
Thankfully, sane thinking prevailed on the minds of Miami’s Big Three - Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh as they quickly distanced themselves from the commotion.
And for good reason too.
After the officials ejected Wall, Big-Z, and Howard for the remainder of the game, the NBA on Thursday through Vice President Stu Jackson, announced penalties for all those involved in the incident. John Wall has been served a one-game suspension without
pay, while Juwan Howard has been fined $35,000 for his role in escalating the hostility. Ilgauskas has also been fined $25,000 for his part during the altercation and delivering an obscene gesture following his ejection.
John Wall will sit out the Wizards game against Cleveland on Friday to serve the suspension.
The incident was almost replicated on Thursday as the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Dallas Mavericks at the Staples Center. The Lakers were up comfortably with a 90 -73 advantage when tempers flared. Jason Terry shoved Los Angeles guard Steve Blake out-of-bounds
as he went on a drive. Blake got straight back up and confronted Terry, only to by joined in by Matt Barnes.
Mavericks forward, Shawn Marion commented on the incident "Just a couple of hard fouls man, just the heat of the game. It was a dogfight out there. It's the way it is sometimes."
Players from both sides got into the mix to separate the Terry and Blake. After things cooled down a little, Dallas assistant coach Terry Stotts was seen trying to restrain a hot-headed Matt Barnes, but Barnes shoved Stotts off of himself as the coach tumbled
into a courtside seat.
On a lighter note, Phil Jackson jokingly offered the following advice to Stotts, "That's not what you do. You grab your own players. That's kind of the rule of the game."
Jason Terry was assessed a Flagrant-2 foul and ejected along with Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Brendan Haywood for their involvement in the altercation. Later on in the game, Lakers’ guard Shannon Brown was also ejected when he had a heated exchange of words
with Dallas forward, Brian Cardinal.
We will have to wait and see how the NBA will react to this incident, and if it will issue any more suspensions or fines to the perpetrators after Thursday’s debacle.
It is up to the officials to restrict the amount of physical play they allow during the game, because one thing is for certain, when pressures rise and the game gets too physical, fights will ensue.
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