Well, we all know that Big Shot Bob won the game again. It has gotten more publicity this time than at any time in the past. People have talked about it at water-coolers, in blogs, on the radio, on television. David Stern even talked it over with Dan Patrick.

Of course we know that this time Big Shot Bob won the game for the San Antonio Spurs by taking a cheap shot on Steve Nash in game 4 to draw Amare Stoudemire off the bench and get him suspended for game 5. This will probably go down as the most infamous shot by Big Shot Bob to win a game.

And since the Amare suspension happened in game 5, which took place in Phoenix, it very well could have won the Spurs the series. The Amare-less Suns, as we know, lost that game.

Tonight San Antonio has a chance to close out the series in San Antonio. And I don’t think there is a person outside of the city of San Antonio who actually wants the Spurs to win this game — or the next game, for that matter, if it goes that far.

Have the Spurs suddenly become a hated team? Could they possibly supplant the Lakers as the most hated team in the NBA?

Probably not, but this year they may well have earned that right with the likes of Cheap Shot Bob and Bruce “Ball-Breaker” Bowen on the roster.

Most people are saying that the rule is dumb. I’m not so sure that it is a dumb rule, as many people propose, but it certainly is dumb “as is” for the playoffs. Each game is way too important for the playoffs. It has ruined series in the past, and tonight we will see if it has ruined this series as well.

If they aren’t actually IN the altercation, it seems silly to penalize them in the playoffs. But you don’t want people coming of the bench at joining the fray either.

Everybody has their two cents on how to solve the problem. I’ve read a lot of them. I’m not sure I like many of them very much because most of them say to just not have the rule at all, or to apply it arbitrarily. Now, there is too much arbitrary calling already in NBA games by the referees already. That one seems like a controversy waiting to happen.

Here are my two cents.

Apply the suspension at the beginning of the next year if they don’t actually join the altercation. They lose their money. They drop a game. We the fans aren’t punished for it at the most important time of the year.

No related posts.