NEW YORK, Jan. 1, 2008 – Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom has been suspended one game without pay and assessed a Flagrant Foul, Penalty Two for flagrantly fouling Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics by throwing himself into Allen and knocking him to the floor, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.Y'know, I've seen some discussion on the topic, and certain people are actually lambasting the league's ruling, claiming that this is another example of the NBA going "soft" and trying to eliminate clean hard fouls from the game.
The incident occurred with 2:56 remaining in the fourth period of the Lakers 110- 91 loss to the Celtics at Staples Center on Dec. 30. Odom will serve his suspension on Jan. 4 when the Lakers host the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now, whether one believes that commissioner Stern has "pussified" (urbandictionary.com) the league or not, I fail to see how one can label Lamar's actions as a "clean hard foul" ... There was no excuse for that kind of bush-league stuff (I'm channeling the spirit of Tommy Heinsohn right now).
KG blocked Odom's shot, then he got all pissy and decided to take out his anger on the first person to catch the ball. Ray turned out to be the unlucky target, and he let loose with a shoulder tackle with no other purpose than to injure an opponent.
Hey, let me just rile up Lakers fans some more and put it to you like this: even if you go back to the Kurt Rambis clothesline (youtube.com), at least McHale was trying to prevent a layup. If nothing else, he was attempting to stop the opposition from scoring two points ... Odom's move did nothing to help his team win or mount a comeback, it was just a gutless play. Simple as that.
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