It does appear Nene bumped, albeit accidentally, a ref. But tossably so? I'd say 'no'. Dedmon needs to be suspended 1 game. Not for a competitive advantage but due to his total instigation and acceleration of this silliness. He seemed, to me, to be playing the role of hatchetman to get himself and Harden expunged from Game 2.
Anyone catch a glimpse of greasy Keith Jones step in with the uncoordinated Blazer right at the end when everything was over. SMH. Must have focused on finishing his burger.
Dedmon came into the game looking to start a fight. Though I notice he wasn't very interested in fighting with Nene.
I'm not a mind reader, but this seems like a simple situation. Dedmon and Harden got into words. Dedmon getting into words is not a surprise. his whole entrance into the game was to spark some energy, cause some ****. Though given his personal character a little surprising. but on the whole, we knew this was going to happen. Nene needs to be MUCH SMARTER about his reaction. However, his reaction is not worthy of a flagrant 2. He was pushing Dedmon back... even though he unfortunately did it at the neck at first. He didn't push a ref, just came in contact with a ref. He didn't escalate it all beyond that. Fine with the ejection from the game. Absolutely shouldn't be suspended from game 2.
From NBA.com...not only does Borgia back up the refs decision he says they will be looking to see if further discipline will be necessary. Nene just trying to get Dedmon out of Harden's face. Doesn't seem like escalating to me. http://www.nba.com/video/2017/05/02/20170501-gt-borgia
The NBA backs up its refs. Always. They've proven this time and time again. Look at pretty much every L2M report, where they'll maybe have 1 missed/incorrect call, and anything else wrong they'll just say Observable with Enhanced Video and still call it a CC (Correct Call) ... as if that makes it the right call when enhanced video or not (usually not necessary, one can see what happens as the play happens) it's the wrong freaking call. Best case here the refs are backed up but for whatever reason Nene isn't suspended. And if the Rockets get that, there's no need to do any ref complaining any time soon to antagonize them any more. As for Nene... again he needs to be MUCH SMARTER there. Equally odd and somewhat frustrating was Ariza deciding to get chippy. I obviously don't know what is being said or the little push or shoves in the game you don't follow 100%... but it didn't seem like anything major was happening. Just all of a sudden Ariza decided to get a little chippy. I think he's still mad about those jump balls scenarios against the Thunder where he was just trying to hold his position and being pushed off, and kind of started getting chippy last night out at the 3 point line when one of the Spurs was shooting a FT. In either case, up 30+, that seemed to be the trigger of the following events, and just wasn't necessary at that point in time, imo.
he got chippy because he saw simmons trying to get in position to go for the offensive rebound on ft's. Ariza is putting himself in position to counter that and Simmons is trying to play tough guy and keeps slapping Ariza's arm away with a little nudge here etc.. Nothing big but Ariza sure isn't going to take that from anyone when he's doing what he's supposed to. He's even telling the ref hes trying to go for the offensive rebound, I can do this. I'm glad we have guys that don't back down and aren't intimidated by fake antics. The spurs were down 30, they sent their guys in to do stuff like this. I guess you could say it sort of worked getting Nene ejected but too late.
Ahh yes you can see it clearly in the video Because of Nene's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu prowess he was actually millimeters away from making Dedmon a ded mon with a single finger
Except its not too late since it was all for Game 2 purposes. I get Ariza doing that, and am fine with it generally... but for the fact that it was a 30 point game and it was clear this was a path they were trying to take, etc. I mean I thought about the Horry hip check at least 10 times in the last few days.
oh i get what you're saying but last night proved that although the spurs organization are known for having guys from top to bottom that carry themselves a certain way, they still have players on their roster who are pretty dumb. I was actually thinking before the series started, who are the guys that will add some fire to this series bc in my head the the core of the spurs aren't known to talk and run their mouths. Their core competes but aren't known to be the ones trying to play the intimidation or fake tough guy antics game. Silly me forgot about scrubs like dedmon and simmons to try and be relevant.
It certainly didn't seem like Nene was escalating the situation but I guess if you think he was, then that would be Flagrant worthy. Still, an ejection seems a little extreme but I guess they felt like Nene pointing at Dedmon was proof of intent. I would be shocked if the league decided to take further action not only because the only evidence of the escalation is highly subjective, but because it would re-ignite the outrage of when the league suspended several key Suns players effectively ruining D'Antoni's chance at a title in a tough series. The league and the refs would take a hit on that one. I thought Dedmon should have been T'ed up earlier - he was getting really chippy during that whole stretch squabbling with several players and was clearly getting out of control. The fact he was ejected not too long afterwards to me was long overdue. I think that's relevant when discussing who is escalating a situation - the guy who just got in 4 other people's faces or the deeply spiritual grizzled old vet trying to separate his star player from the real aggressor.
he used his head to push or hurt Harden's head. closest definition to that is head butt unless you can think of a better term and Nene got ejected for simply laying his hands on Dedmon to protect Harden
So, when you push with your head, I'm supposed to be up in arms, but if you push with your hands, everything's cool. Is that right?
Am I blind? People talking about Nene bumping into the ref, when all he actually did was hand him the ball. If you go back and watch in 1/4 speed it's not clear that Nene makes any contact with him whatsoever. Compare that with Dedmon, who strikes the ref's right arm and then grapples with him, but is not ejected (yet).
my point is both are a push if nene was ejected, dedmon should be as well also a aggressive push skull to skull is cowardly and worse than a retaliatory push by a hand to the shoulder not sure why you defending that
