If I was a nobody on the Pacers who knew i'd never see 2 minutes of action each game - I would honestly do this. And i'm 100% serious. I would do the exact same thing Pittman did. Not only would I became basically a national treasure - the NBA is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm sure Stern wouldn't just try to kick you out of the NBA for touching LeBron - he'd try to have you deported to another country. Boom. I make a lawsuit against the NBA. Unless i'm given the same penalty as Pittman. Indiana. Hit me up. I can make it over there in time.
Pacers have been playing a pretty dirty game consistently pushing the boundaries both physically and verbally with what the refs will allow. By not stepping in sooner to halt the taunting (it goes way beyond a choke sign), getting in the face (Granger and his "chip on shoulder"), and the follow through on hard shots (justified by making some ball contact while primarily bringing the pain), the refs have lost control of the series. Now that Miami is losing their cool, the Pacers back down. The strategy might be to bait Miami players into retaliation, but when they do retaliate, stand up and hit 'em again. Don't back down and punk out now. Make the refs stop the cycle. Next game should be a circus. Larry Bird just called his team soft. League likely to hand out a suspension or two, hamstringing Miami. Whatcha gonna do Pacers? How u wanna handle it Stern?
People in the media today are taking this to mean that he thinks the Pacers should have made more hard fouls. That's not it. Soft is taking three point shots because you don't want to get fouled driving into the lane. Soft is not taking the ball inside because you are afraid you might turn it over. Soft is not willing to take the big shot. Soft can be either mental or physical.
You must be really young. Try watchin 80s playoff games, detroit bad boys, knicks-pacers, barkley, malone. You jus hate da heat
This. The pacers started this crap without a doubt, but Miami took it too far with the Pittman foul. The Haslem one was no worse than what Hansboro did to Wade, but Pittman should be suspended for the remainder of the season.
You were pulling for Dallas, Dirk, and Mark Cuban last year and you're on a Rockets forum. That's lol.
I like LeBron. I don't like Danny Granger or DWade. Yeah the Pittman play was dirty, but I'm not sweating what a nobody is doing. If doubt it was ordered by the coach or anything, since they could actually need Pittman with Bosh still injured and KG possibly getting the Heat bigs in foul trouble.
Just horrible all the way around. Hansbrough was a hard foul that crossed into flagrant territory. Haslem was a clear cut flagrant 2 done with intent. Pittman should be gone for no less than 5 games for what he did. Intent, premeditated, malicious, plus the wink. Shame on Eric Spoelstra or the Heat players for deciding to use hockey enforcers. Shame on the officials for lacking the balls to eject Haslem and Pittman because they were in Miami. Shame on Stern for letting homecooking get to this point. If Haslem gets suspended, I would not be surprised if Hansbrough also gets one "to even things out" The Heat are a bunch of cowardly b****es. There's no need for that crap when you already have the game well in hand.
Pittman doesn't represent what the Heat do. And there nothing wrong being a fan of any team, everyone has their reasons.
After Pittman was called for the flagrant, Spoelstra stare him down and pretended to be angry. Pittman communicated back: message: Thanks coach... did I do it right, like we planned?
I'd be more likely to believe he did it for somebody else. I think Spoelstra would have been smarter than that with Bosh out, Haslem possibly suspended (I thought Wade's tackle was worse, since that didn't merit suspension, I don't think this should), it would seem stupid to risk losing Pittman. Of course its possible the coach said somebody put him on his ass, and Pittman stupidly elbowed him in the neck area, which is going to be a suspension.
