NBA Drops The Ball With Suspensions

The NBA has suspended Phoenix Suns forwards Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals for leaving the bench area directly after San Antonio Spurs forward Robert Horry hip checked Steve Nash out of bounds with under 20 seconds to play in Phoenix' 104-98 win that tied the series at 2-2. Horry, who was immediately ejected from the game, received a two game suspension. I am in total disagreement with the NBA on their ruling. First of all, Horry only deserved to miss one game. What he did was wrong but there is no way he should have gotten two games. The reason that Horry got two games is that the NBA gave both Stoudemire and Diaw a one game suspension. There is an NBA rule that states players can't leave the bench during the game or they will be suspended but in following this rule, the NBA is not taking into account the great emotion the players have during the game. Upon seeing their teammate go flying into the scorers table, both Stoudemire and Diaw clearly run in the direction of Nash -- not Horry -- and when an assistant coach got in their way and herded them back to the bench, they returned to the bench. Believe me, if the 6-10 255 pound Stoudemire and the 6-9 240 pound Diaw really wanted to get at Robert Horry, no assistant coach could have or would have held them back. The NBA should have used common sense and at worst fined the players. Instead, NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson handed down the suspensions, saying that, "...the rule, however, is the rule, and we intend to apply it consistently." The suspension could totally throw the series in the direction of San Antonio. Phoenix fought back from a 97-92 deficit with 2:23 to play in what was a must-win for them on the road, closing out the game on a 12-1 run against one of the best teams in the NBA. Now the Suns must battle Tim Duncan -- who also left the bench area along with Bruce Bowen during the game after teammate Francisco Elson was undercut by James Jones -- without two of their best players. And if the NBA are suspending Stoudemire and Diaw, which is the wrong move, then why aren't Duncan and Bowen being held to the same rule. No fight or altercation broke out during the Elson/Jones entanglement -- and one did not break out during the Nash/Horry play -- but still, if the rule applies to one, it should apply to all. The NBA could have made this a non-issue by not suspending either Stoudemire or Diaw and explaining so using common sense. Instead a potentially great finish to a series could be short cut because the NBA has no guts.