looks like the Suns might appeal it http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/11/14/20081114sunssuspension-CR.html
Matt Barnes sounds like an intelligent guy.... Not only is he too stubborn to take responsibility for starting the whole thing. Not only is he falsely claiming Rafer was throwing punches and that somehow justifies his behavior. Now, he's basically encouraging other NBA players to throw punches in future skirmishes like that. Wow. Just....wow.
Keyon Martin committed the same foul as Barnes against Varejeo and got a flagrant 2 and ejection. I dont know wtf the refs were doing about Barnes' foul. Not even a whistle?
As a Canadian - I'm actually starting to get annoyed by Nash. As much good as he has done for basketball in Canada, he seems to be getting more and more arrogant as time passes by. It was just Rafer/Barnes until Nash jumped in...and he sounds like a whiner complaining about this mess. Man up.
Matt Barnes is lucky he's 6'8". If he weren't, he strikes me as the kind of thug idiot who would be flipping burgers and living in his mom's basement.
Yeah I thought so at first, too, but he is so big and clumsy that his "pushing" could be seen as an attempt at peacemaking if one wants to judge it very kindly. Nash, on the other hand...perhaps he should view that tape again? He had to be forcefully restrained, or he was going to go completely berserk. How he can even complain afterwards at all is unbelievable to me.
Thing is, he did a better job than anyone of breaking up the fight. I actually think NBA kinda appreciates the role he played in the whole thing.
Seriously, those two are so full of crap... Watch the video again and see how Nash charges straight at Rafer. McGrady's trying to pull Rafer away when Nash charges in like an idiot, so McGrady threw him to the floor. And nowhere can it be said that Rafer was throwing punches. Barnes threw a cheap shot - deserves his suspension. Rafer started the fight - deserves his suspension (but I agree with him defending himself since no foul was called) Nash made things 10x worse - deserves an equal or longer suspension. McGrady got involved - deserves his fine. Shaq got involved - deserves his fine. I'm trying to look at this as an unbiased third party, and I think that all in all the punishments were pretty fair, save for Nash. It wouldn't have escalated to where it did if he had run at Barnes instead of Rafer.
Nash wouldn't have gotten suspended if he ran in between a Rockets and Suns player to pull them apart. The problem was that he ran directly to Rafer and the next closest Rocket (T-Mac). There was no Sun that he touched. That's "escalation".
Seriously, that picture tells it all. Matt Barnes is behind McGrady. Nash is facing Rafer. If Nash wasn't trying to escalate the situation, why would he stick himself between Rafer and McGrady when Barnes was clearly not there?
