Just switched to Chicago/LA game after the Rox won, and saw Shaq get fouled semi-hard. Oakley committed the foul and hit Miller. Shaq thought it was Miller and while he had his back turned, swung hard (and missed!). WOW!!!! Fox just got ejected! Shaq is such a pansy. HAHAHAHA. Never thought I'd say this, but Go Bulls!
I can't wait to see it. CHICAGO (AP) -- In one of the most violent and stunning games of the NBA season, the Chicago Bulls shocked the Los Angeles Lakers 106-104 in overtime Saturday night after Shaquille O'Neal was ejected for fighting. O'Neal flew into an uncontrollable rage when he was fouled hard late in the fourth quarter, throwing two roundhouse punches at Bulls center Brad Miller -- one of which connected as Miller had his back turned. O'Neal faces an automatic one-game suspension for throwing a punch, and the penalty will likely be longer given the amount of anger he vented and the size of the ensuing melee. Kobe Bryant tried to single-handedly take over after O'Neal was tossed, but he missed a free throw that would have tied the game with eight seconds left in overtime and a jumper that would have tied it with a half-second left. The Bulls, with the NBA's worst record (7-29), dealt the Lakers their most inexcusable -- and costliest -- loss. Ron Mercer led Chicago with 28 points, and the Bulls got 39 points from their reserves. Derek Fisher made seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 28 for Los Angeles, while Bryant added 26. With the Lakers leading 87-84 with 2:44 left, O'Neal was clobbered by Charles Oakley and Miller as he received the ball in the low post. O'Neal immediately turned and went after Miller, throwing a roundhouse right that missed and a second that connected. O'Neal jumped on Miller in a huge pileup along the baseline, with Oakley trying to pry O'Neal off. Miller emerged from the pile shirtless, smiled a bit and walked off. O'Neal stayed on the court for a few minutes before being led off along with Oakley. Rick Fox also was ejected for arguing with the referees as they tried to sort things out. Mercer tied the game at 94-94 by making a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds left, and Bryant missed a jumper from the top of the key to end regulation. Ron Artest and Marcus Fizer scored the first four points of overtime, and Bryant picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in a 30-second span midway through the extra period. Mercer's two free throws gave Chicago a 101-96 lead. The Lakers scored the next four points from the foul line before Fizer hit a corner jumper for a 103-100 lead with a minute left. Bryant missed a 3, but the Lakers grabbed the offensive rebound and got the ball to Robert Horry for a 3 that tied it with 38 seconds left. Tyson Chandler dunked a rebound to give Chicago a 105-103 lead with 28 seconds left, and Bryant missed the second of two foul shots with eight seconds left after drawing Artest's sixth foul. A double foul was called as Samaki Walker and Fizer fought for the rebound, leading to a jump ball at center court. The Lakers won the tip but Bryant missed a 23-footer, and Fred Hoiberg hit one of two free throws with a half-second left for the final margin. O'Neal had 19 points and 10 rebounds, missing half of his 18 free throws, before being ejected. Miller had 17 points and 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end. O'Neal picked up a technical foul earlier in the game for whacking Miller across the head with his forearm after another hard foul. Early on, it looked like this game would be another run-of-the-mill victory for the Lakers and yet another lopsided loss for the Bulls. Fisher hit four 3-pointers in the first six minutes, and Devean George made a 3 with 10:20 left in the second quarter for a 40-23 lead. The Bulls charged back behind their two rookie big men, Eddy Curry and Chandler, and used a 17-3 run to pull to 43-40. Mercer ended the first half by hitting a corner jumper as the buzzer sounded, giving Chicago a 52-51 lead and earning the Bulls a standing ovation.
Hey! Now I get to be one of the privileged here at CC.net, and exercise the time honoured tradition of saying… WRONG FORUM!
BBS Hangout Want to talk about music, places, people, a big ass Gordita or just any interest BBS users may have in common outside of the Rockets -- this is the place. This is a interesting topic. It doesn't have anything to do with the Rockets. Shaq is a person, and possibly a big ass Gordita.
Well the fight was in a game wasn't it? There will suspensions and fines imposed by the league. I call for a ruling by an admin! I'm not letting my first WRONG FORUM go down without a fight!
You are now an official member. ... now we have the Canadian division of the Wrong Forum Police in full gear!
My impressions: I can't believe O'Neal didn't connect. O'Neal and Oakley are the ones to blame. It appeared like Oakley slapped O'Neal on the head causing Shaq to go off on Miller. Miller did foul O'Neal pretty hard but I wouldn't consider it a flagrant 2. Miller taking off his jersey like Rodman was funny. Fox being ejected for arguing a minute after the fight was funny. Jackson sitting on the bench by himself while everyone on the Lakers were standing was sad. Bulls fans acting like they had won the championship with streamers coming down from the roof was sad. Watching bandwagon Laker fans, all 22,000 at the United Center cry...priceless
Hey man, the same thing happened when Francis came back and helped break that horrible losing streak about a week ago.
20 years ago Kermit Washington does the same thing to Rudy T. and never plays basketball again. What would happen if Shaq had connected? Say Miller's season was over, or even worse, he was completely disformed or his neck broke or something? Would Shaq be kicked out for good? A 5 game suspension is a definite, but I'd be dissapointed with anything less than 10. At least it could easily be argued that K-Mart was going for the ball. Shaq flat out starting throwing HARD punches. We'll see how lenient the league is on its stars with this fine/suspension. On a different note, I do understand where Shaq is coming from. On those particular fouls, he was HACKED. But, just as he complains about being fouled on every play, the defense can just as easily complain that he commits and offensive foul on every play - perhaps having even more of an argument. At his height and weight he should stop complaining and just dominate like he can.
If Shaq seriously injured Miller, I think he would be suspended for the rest of the season and maybe even next season. But because he is one of the league's superstars he would return.
All I can say is that I see both sides of this. Shaq must get tired of getting fouled so hard, but if you don't foul him hard, he will run right over you. It's just going to be a tough thing for him to deal with the rest of his career.
The truth is that Shaq commits offensive fouls everytime he gets the ball in the low post. The league allows this kind of nonsense before Shaq arrived, so it is getting what it deserves: fighting.
I've written this before, and I'll write it again: Basketball players can't fight! There have only been 2 truly 'great' NBA fights in the last 10 or so years: 1. Bulls vs. Knicks in the playoffs ('95 or '96, I can't remember) where it went into the scoring\announcing tables and some of the first row. Stern was about 2-3 rows away. Nice! 2. Barkley vs. Laimbeer, a true classic! Thanks for your time!
How about Nolan Ryan roping Ventura. That was pretty good. Ventura was defeated handily, but that was some smackdown. As for basketball players, Van Gundy rules.
