Alston Suspended (merged threads, suspension on page 9)

[The Walker Wiggle]

This is my least favorite topic after a great win. (We're not Bulls fans after all...) That said, I'm hoping the league office just hands down a fine. If they want to send a message and suspend someone, they can suspend Kobe Bean for the elbow at Artest's throat...

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

no way he doesn't get 1 game for this...pretty similar to howard's elbow...no play on the ball whatsoever, just clearly going after another player's head.

except an elbow is an intent to injure and a slap is simply disrespecting. that is a HUGE difference. alston gets fined. there is a radical difference between posturing toughness and intending to injure somebody. nobody goes for stitches after a slap. in my mind alston gets fined, no suspension. basically its excessive taunting.

and seems like in 2009 its time to move beyond "thug" and "punk" labeling.

So are you willing to do a little experiment: you turn your back to me, and I check whether I can slap you hard enough to injure you. After all, if this is only disrespect, you risk nothing, right?

I thought so.

sure. give me a break. that was not an intent to injure play. and eddie was fine. did he hit him as hard as he could? nope. i'll gladly stand here and let you slap me just like alston did. cause that isn't causing an injury. i will get up in your grill afterwards though. seriously, outside of green colored glasses do you really think that was a hit to injure?

[The Walker Wiggle]

But said slap did sort of, almost knock off Eddie's head band.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

This is my least favorite topic after a great win. (We're not Bulls fans after all...) That said, I'm hoping the league office just hands down a fine. If they want to send a message and suspend someone, they can suspend Kobe Bean for the elbow at Artest's throat...

tp. alston was a play that gets fined. kobe throws elbows and gets the other guy ejected? what? that artest ejection was absurd beyond belief. i still fail to see how alston's play was worth a suspension. an ejection from that game maybe but no way he deserves a suspension for that. so sick of the baby rules of the new nba.

[fairweatherfan]

This is my least favorite topic after a great win. (We're not Bulls fans after all...) That said, I'm hoping the league office just hands down a fine. If they want to send a message and suspend someone, they can suspend Kobe Bean for the elbow at Artest's throat...

tp. alston was a play that gets fined. kobe throws elbows and gets the other guy ejected? what? that artest ejection was absurd beyond belief. i still fail to see how alston's play was worth a suspension. an ejection from that game maybe but no way he deserves a suspension for that. so sick of the baby rules of the new nba.

Said this in the other thread, but after the initial T Artest pointed at Kobe and mimed swinging an elbow.  I'm pretty sure Crawford saw that as a throat slash or some other threatening gesture, because he tossed him immediately afterwards.

But yeah, add it to the list of NBA ref embarassments: Artest got a personal and 2 technicals for getting intentionally elbowed in the throat.

[get_banners]

except an elbow is an intent to injure and a slap is simply disrespecting. that is a HUGE difference. alston gets fined. there is a radical difference between posturing toughness and intending to injure somebody. nobody goes for stitches after a slap. in my mind alston gets fined, no suspension. basically its excessive taunting.
and seems like in 2009 its time to move beyond "thug" and "punk" labeling.

this wasn't that different from a punch, though. he didn't tap him on the head, he hit him fairly hard. did dalembert get stitches after howard elbowed him? no. he wasn't even hurt that badly. but howard, a star, got suspended 1 game because he went after somebody's head without any play on the ball - exact same situation here. there's no way they don't let this go, because it would set a bad precedent.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

except an elbow is an intent to injure and a slap is simply disrespecting. that is a HUGE difference. alston gets fined. there is a radical difference between posturing toughness and intending to injure somebody. nobody goes for stitches after a slap. in my mind alston gets fined, no suspension. basically its excessive taunting.
and seems like in 2009 its time to move beyond "thug" and "punk" labeling.

this wasn't that different from a punch, though. he didn't tap him on the head, he hit him fairly hard. did dalembert get stitches after howard elbowed him? no. he wasn't even hurt that badly. but howard, a star, got suspended 1 game because he went after somebody's head without any play on the ball - exact same situation here. there's no way they don't let this go, because it would set a bad precedent.

if you see that the same as a punch i will call this an agree to disagree situation. you don't automatically need stitches after a punch btw. but there is a huge difference between a sharp elbow and an open hand slap. one is intent to injure one is taunting. that is how i see it at least. it is a technical. fine him 20 grand. no problem with that. but to say it is equal to trying to injure somebody seems to be equating apples with oranges. it is equivalent to jawing and going to chest to chest with another player.

[Rida]

Hes gonna get suspended. Rose and legler seemed pretty certain on nba fastbreak

[kenmaine]

I don't think Alston will be suspended...a hit like that isn't going to get a suspension, it'll probably be upgraded to a Flagrant 1 and Alston'll get a fine, but I can't imagine a suspension for that.

I think you and ticket greatly underestimate stu jackson's sensitvity to strikes of any kind to a players head after a play.

the leauge has been very clear on this since the palace. Do something for no other reason than to provoke a fight after a play is done, and by chance you don't get tossed out of that game, your gone the next one.

It's been pretty cut and dry.

As I said, I am still very surprised that Rondo was not suspended after the Hinrich incident.  He threw Hinrich into the press box, then threw an elbow after Hinrich retaliated.  He was clearly provoking a fight after whistled had blown and refs had entered the fray. 

The league is going to be opening up major conspiracy theory talk if they suspend Alston for that after letting Rondo go on two consecutive suspendable offenses.

Kenny and Charles are both saying suspension, no question, right now.  Don't get me wrong, I hope they're right... I just don't think he deserves one.

Hinrich had his arm inside Rondo's jersey. This ****ed Rondo off and he grabbed his arm and pulled. That is bad but is it really that different from what Dwight Howard did to baby to get a rebound when he was called for an offensive foul? The elbow was more questionable but it wasn't aimed at his head and was more of a push.

Rondo was punished according to the officials, the refs are supposed to have leeway and I wasn't surprised he wasn't suspended. Because the officials just gave a double T I think Alston will be punished further.

Alston struck a man in the head from behind away from the ball in a blow out. You can't allow that. If he plays in game 3 I expect a Perkins moving screen to blow his ass up. Twice.

TP-  someone out here actually realizes that Hinrich was holding Rondo and preventing him from getting up the court, and Rondo just got p...ed off and threw him off. It was Hinrich who then charged at and ran into Rondo, who proceeded to back off.

But the Alston hit on House was just moronic. He'll probably be suspended, but IMO he should probably just get a fine. It wasn't a hard punch or elbow with intent to injure, just pure frustration and anger, but still very stupid.

[nickagneta]

no way he doesn't get 1 game for this...pretty similar to howard's elbow...no play on the ball whatsoever, just clearly going after another player's head.

except an elbow is an intent to injure and a slap is simply disrespecting. that is a HUGE difference. alston gets fined. there is a radical difference between posturing toughness and intending to injure somebody. nobody goes for stitches after a slap. in my mind alston gets fined, no suspension. basically its excessive taunting.

and seems like in 2009 its time to move beyond "thug" and "punk" labeling.

Here's the problem with your reasoning. Intent to injure is not what is required to be ejected and/or suspended. You are right, there was no intent to injure, just an intent to show that he was angered by what was happening and wanted to show his frustration and anger.

But take a look at the rules that Roy posted earlier in the thread for such occasions:

l. A player, coach or trainer must be ejected for:
(1) A punching foul
(2) A fighting foul
(3) An elbow foul which makes contact above shoulder level
(4) Technical foul for an attempted punch which does not make contact
(5) Deliberately entering the stands other than as a continuance of play
(6) Flagrant foul penalty (2)
(7) Second flagrant foul penalty (1)
(8 ) Participation in the game when not on team’s active list

Nowhere is intent to injure discussed. You can be thrown out of a game or suspended for simply throwing a punch and not connecting. Slapping is a form of fighting just as kicking and scratching and kneeing. Alston was attempting to provoke a fight with a fighting type foul.

That, my friend, means ejection.

[kheeko]

This was a coward move. I hope he's suspended for it. If not Eddie might aswell slap him back come game 3.

[Roy Hobbs]

It wasn't a hard punch or elbow with intent to injure, just pure frustration and anger, but still very stupid.

What if a player threw an elbow at another player's head, but it wasn't hard enough to injure?  I'm hearing the "intent to injure" standard a lot, and I think that's way too subjective.

[crownsy]

It wasn't a hard punch or elbow with intent to injure, just pure frustration and anger, but still very stupid.

What if a player threw an elbow at another player's head, but it wasn't hard enough to injure?  I'm hearing the "intent to injure" standard a lot, and I think that's way too subjective.

yep, and the league has been quite clear that they could care less if you had intent to injure. every player says that, the league never cares.

d-12 tried it a week ago and it didn't work.

the league is out to REMOVE any subjective "grey area" , not open it up for discussion by letting a guy skate and saying "well, he didn't hit him quite hard enough."

[papa shuttlesworth]

It is too bad that the refs didn't catch it during the game.  He should have been tossed for half the game and that's it.  Now they are going to have to suspend him, which is a little harsh for what he did.

[crownsy]

It is too bad that the refs didn't catch it during the game.  He should have been tossed for half the game and that's it.  Now they are going to have to suspend him, which is a little harsh for what he did.

exactly, if they had caught him and tossed him during the game, no way would he get suspended for game 3.

but they didn't, so he'll sit.