how can anyone blame this on Harden at all? A ****ing bipolar piece of **** hit him in the face. That's NOT Harden's fault.
World peace has been playing like the Pacers Artest lately I guess it's just fitting he's turning back into that crazy mothertrucker too in terms of personality.
That is just laughable, Love didn't stomp with any force and the worst thing could've been a black eye for Scola or a slight bruise. A close elbow to the head with intended force from a muscled up dude like Ron can severely injure your skull, bones or brain. This could've turned dramatic if he hits him badly. People have to actually think how Ron's elbow can turn out, this was an action that could've badly injured Harden. To achive the same level of danger Love would've had to jump and stomp on Scola's face with force and momentum.
Normally I'd buy that argument. There will be a huge firestorm in the media for a couple of days because it's Artest/MWP. But you can't even say he's on zero tolerance, because he didn't get any suspension for the conflict with Kobe during the Rockets/Lakers series, and that would have been the perfect "zero tolerance" suspension. Will he catch more games because of his track record? Probably. But I still maintain that if the NBA gave Love two games for stomping a player in the head intentionally the NBA shouldn't suspend MWP on an indefinite basis. Even with his track record that is uncalled for.
given him three feet? Are you serious? Harden was trying to get position for the inbound pass. It's basketball. You're supposed to get in the other players way. If Artest can't handle that without going psycho and throwing brutal elbows then he shouldn't be playing.
It is kinda odd how he just runs into Artest for what ever reason. I think that's what initiated Artest's elbow and he was trying to get Harden off of him if he even knew that was Harden. It's really not consistent with Ron. He's not a cheap shot guy, he wears his emotions plainly and if he wanted to fight someone he would just do it.
Ron not a cheap shot kinda guy? I've seen Artest cheap shot people his whole career throughout many many games. Maybe not to this kind of level, but he's a dirty player.
Same **** last year. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zoQ-L3jqSwI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I doubt he gets that but if he did could anyone fault Stern? A guy stars the malice in the palace and gets a 2nd chance then pulls this.
Fair enough. We still don't know just how bad Harden has been injured. Sidney Crosby took seemingly forever to recover from his concussion, and we don't have any sort of timeline on Harden's injury. I still have to take issue with your description of Love's blow - just because Scola wasn't injured didn't mean he couldn't of been, and BOTH blows were dangerous. I don't dispute how dangerous MWP's elbow was, I just feel that those situations are somewhat analogous, and the punishments should be similar. If I were handing out punishments, I would have given Love 5 games for the stomp, which gives the latitude for 7-10 games for MWP's elbow (which I think MWP will get anyway).
I actually thought it was worse than him brawling at the Malice at the Palace. He basically wound up and elbowed a guy that did nothing to him with an elbow to the temple and ear. It was despicable and incredibly dirty. That would've been a nice elbow in MMA but it has no place in the NBA.
You obviously didn't see Artest play as a Pacer. He was very much a cheap shot artist. Once he got a bullseye painted on him by the refs, things came to light.
I have the feeling he won't being playing for the rest of the season/playoffs. I actually felt the malice at the palace suspension was excessive but I thought this was even worse.
He's a physical player that throws his elbows around a lot. I'm not defending him or anything I just don't see it how others see it. That Ron just went out of his way to go after Harden like that. Because he really had no reason to and usually when he DOES go after someone there is more than one shot that is coming. When Artest loses his cool, I think we have seen that before and that wasn't it. A physical player is not necessarily a dirty one. Guys like Bruce Bowen are cheap shot artist...
I don't understand the Kobe reference...he didn't attack Kobe (Kobe was the one who attacked Artest). I agree that there will be a lot of calls for a lengthy suspension, but the Union could have an argument that this incident isn't related to '04 (compared to, say, drug-related suspensions that escalate for repeat offenders). Still, though, you have to think, logically, Stern will [try to] come down hard. "Indefinite" suspensions don't really exist in the NBA, but it's an opportunity to create one...minimum punishment: keep Artest out of games as long as Harden is out (if he is injured). Then add an additional 5 games. But I still say he's done for the year.
Once again, you have no idea. Just because Artest didn't explode like in Detroit doesn't mean anything here. Throughout his career he's been a cheap-shot artist with his elbows and knees. Seriously, you are way off the tracks. Most of his career in Indy went under the radar until he got suspended for the season.
What are you smoking, homie? It's blatantly clear in the replay you can see Artest can tell Harden is there, pulls back to gather strength, and levels the blow deliberately and precisely on Harden's head. Ron doesn't need to go out of his way to do something like that because he is bi-polar. People with mental disorders are unpredictable and prone to doing things like this without warning.
