And the NBA Pulls Another One

I seriously think that the NBA has it out for the Suns, and particularly Shaquille O'Neal. His ejection tonight for a Flagrant Foul 2 on Rip Hamilton was ridiculous. Was it a hard foul? Yes. Was it a flagrant foul? Maybe. Was it worthy of ejection? Definitely not. Shaq's description of the play as "the laws of physics" at work was dead on. Two bodies were flying fast and hard in opposing directions. There was a collision. One body was considerably more massive than the other, and the smaller body went hard to the floor. Does that surprise anyone?

I know the league is trying to cut down on unnecessarily hard fouls. But they have to use common sense. For some reason, Shaq is given a different rule book than the rest of the league, and part of it is happening just because he's so massive. Other players in the league climb on him, twist his head and neck, whack him, rip at him, and otherwise clobber him and get away with simple fouls all the time. It's no wonder Shaq gets so angry during some games. Then, when he's on defense, a lot of his fouls look harder than they are due to the major size disparity between him and virtually all of the other players in the league.

If the NBA does the right thing -- and I highly doubt they will, given their previous performances in virtually all incidents over the past three years that have involved the Suns -- then they will not fine or suspend Shaq, and furthermore, the official who ejected him will be reprimanded and/or fined. Furthermore, they will try to get the officials to officiate Shaq more fairly. That call tonight was grossly unjustified, and future gaffes like that need to be avoided in the future for the good of the game.