I think you're wrong. This whole thing isn't black and white to me. Of course I'm not excusing Artest, it was a horrible move. I'm just calling it as I see it.
This. And he was too busy "celebrating" to realize it. How can you even fault Harden one bit? That's ridiculous.
Harden didn't do anything to Artest, much less a forearm to his chest as you so claim. Look at the video. The only time Harden's forearm came close to Artest's chest was when Harden was falling down. Also, bodying someone up DOES NOT EQUAL a cocked elbow to the side of the head. Ever.
wrong, Harden was in his spot and world war back pedaled into Harden intruding Hardens personal space dont know what you saw there
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Another big point that proves he was trying to hurt Harden was that he didn't even check to see if Harden was alright.
I think he was trying to play it off as unintentional. When you play basketball, you instantly know when your elbow drills someone in the head.
I could buy that if we were talking about JUST a bump or a knockdown by World Peace. Even if it were just an elbow, then okay. But MWP 1) reached back, 2) struck the head/neck with force and 3)followed through. That said, he shouldn't get more than Kevin Love intentionally stomping on Scola's head - if that wasn't premeditated, I don't know what was - and the NBA determined that 2 games was a sufficient suspension for Love. Maybe 4 given MWP's track record, but that's it.
Looked like steroid rage. Haven't seen anything like that on an NBA court since Rudy's LeFort III. Sad.
I think some of you guys here don't really realize how terribly this could've ended. The way he threw the elbow with force could've seriously injured Harden, especially at that clsoe distance and knowing Ron's body/muscles. This is in no way comparable to Love's stomp. If Love would've really STOMPED with force I'd agree, but that way it's just poor judgement to say that.
