He was pushed in the back by the other referee. Mason only moved his feet to maintain balance and not fall on his face. Do you see that now that I mention it? EDIT: And I still don't see why you think the natural motion of Mason jerking his arm free would hit the ref. People don't rip their arms away by moving them straight forward. The natural instinct is to move your arm across your body (to the left in Mason's case) and downward. That's not where the ref was standing.
I don't think he punched Yao..based on the video. But someone should have kicked his a$$ for flipping Yao over. I used to like Desmond Mason..not anymore
Exactly. Look at the video. Down...... and to the left Down...... and to the left Down...... and to the left Down...... and to the left Of course, there may have been a 2nd hitter over near the glassy goal. I smell a conspiracy.
this is hard to judge just from looking at the 1:16 mark due to the camera angle, but if you look around the 2:25 mark, it becomes a little more convincing that mason did not swing at yao intentionally. after mason tosses yao, it looked like mason was standing straight up, not that close to yao. the only reason he then moves closer to yao and bends over yao is because juwan pushes him. while he was getting pushed is when the arm motion occurs. if juwan hadn't pushed him it looks like he might have just stood straight up and given yao a nasty stare down maybe. like others have said, i don't think the arm motion was a punch like i first thought when watching the game on TV live, instead was a reaction to being rag-dolled by howard. oh, and yao is a wuss.
Yao is not a wuss. He's smart, and has self-control. If Mason had smitten the other cheek, Yao may have suplexed him.
That slipping over can easily broke Yao's arm even hurt his head. What a great weekend! TMac out for 3 weeks. Yao got flipped over and punched. And it wasnt Mason's fault. Rockets lose to Hornets for the second time in the last week.
sigh. it seems being nice and calm = being soft in people's mind. I firmly believe Yao has guts as a basketball player (in all aspects). Just remember how he performed in Olympics, or even the recent Asian games (his chin bleed pretty bad during one game). And I hardly feel annoyed by hearing people say Yao soft any more. If you can't see or don't believe Yao has "it" in him then it's your problem, not Yao's, not Rockets'.
I don't see what the big deal of in any of this. Heat of the battle, Mason got upset and overreacted. Howard came in to protect his teammate and it pissed Mason off. When Yao and Mason when to the jump ball, they hugged, shook hands and that was it. The NBA is so mild today compared to what it was back in the early 80's. That era made this altercation look like two girls waving hankerchiefs at each other. It was one small incident. It's over. No harm done to anyone. It's a part of the game.
agreed. thanks for pointing the latter part out. It gives a better idea what's going on. true. but he's probably better off staying that way. Yao can't fight. He'd look much worse getting beat badly in a fight than backing off.
After seeing the vid that bob posted I can tell now that he wasn't punched IMO. Juwon pushed him off balance.
The game seemed to turn after that. Yao was clearly dominating the game at that point and he was never really the same after that. 1. Mason should have been ejected. 2. A tech should have been applied to the Hornets. 3. The Rockets should have shot a free throw shot. 4. And I am not sure but I think since a jump ball was called, if Mason is the guy that would be jumping for the Hornets and he gets tossed then the Rockets get to choose who jumps for the Hornets. Unfrortunately nothing was called and Yao was a non-factor from that point on with the exception that he could not hit a shot after that. And yes I do believe the fight effected Yao's game.
I dont think Stern will punish Mason for this. What happened when Malone enbowed D.Robison and S.Nash? Nothing! We cant blame him since we all know he is not intentional, which you can see from his eyes and movement, right? That also happened the day before yesterday when Artest sent Shaq home for 4 weeks. Anything happen? No, he is not intentional! that's the whole story. So just clam down folks. Send this silly picture to Stern? Are you kidding? Just a punch in the head. Save your energy when this happend to Tmac's back or Yao's toe. We all know this will happen sooner or later as we have expected. Then we can send them to Lakers and get C Odom and K Brown, the really SF and C we need for the championship. Go Rockets! PS: I am also a Yao fan and supporter, and have no ties or lotalty toward XXXXX whatsoever. However, I strive to be objective in situations like this and I don't see the problem with it.
Yao is lucky to have Juwan separate them. I have no doubt that Mason would've ass whipped Yao. It's good to see Yao make nice with Mason after he tossed him like that. He's no fool.
here is a video clip of the incident. you can see mason swing but he does not hit yao. yao vs mason / 17MB / wmv file http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2M7NZ1GH93NGZ2MIQOC97REG7B
I looked at the second video - which is much clearer the first The swing clearly missed (but in the first one I had initially thought it was a hit) I am sure Mason will get suspended for 10 games and fined. Anyway, the league takes this stuff pretty seriously. Also, if Rocket's bench players stepped off - then there will be more suspensions.
It would have been interesting if neither side got involved and Mason was set loose to go after Yao. It's honestly up in the air as to what would have happened. Yao's got a full foot and 100 lbs on Mason yet Mason was steaming mad. The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree that Yao's a huge wuss.
