Luv those Knicks wrote:HurricaneDij25 wrote:The Pacers hosted the Orlando Magic that day, led by Steve Francis, Grant Hill, and rookie Dwight Howard...
It was the day after the brawl, and the Pacers roster had been decimated by suspensions as well as preseason injuries. The Pacers only had six players available for their game against Orlando. Without looking it up,
Can you name the six players?
I was able to get five of them without looking, the sixth I had to double check on...
Let's just say we should all be thankful was have a considerably more competent NBA head office today than we did in 2004... Today's NBA most likely would not have made us play w/ only six players and likely would have postponed the game.
I thought the NBA had a rule that 8 players rule in place by that time, but the box score checks out. 12 players on the roster, 3 didn't dress, 3 suspended, 6 played.
In the 1997 playoffs, when 5 knicks were suspended for running onto the court, that time PJ Brown flipped Charlie Ward. (Ward tried to tie up PJ's legs on the FT line, which he really shouldn't have done), but anyway, the league staggered those suspensions, so the Knicks had 8 players for the first game, 9 for the second. I guess they couldn't do that with Artest, who was suspended for the full season, and they could have, but didn't want to do it with the other suspended players.
I think that rule was already in place, but I guess the league was so mad about the "malice" that they didn't honor it.
and . . . good luck against us in the playoffs. I'm rooting for a Knicks win, ofcourse, but I don't dislike Indiana the way I dislike Philly. Looks like a good match-up.
Remember, that was the season after Shaq and Kobe had broken up... Stern was going to do everything and anything to bend the rules to prevent a Pacers/Spurs final from happening.
More than two times the age now as I was then, I won't let go of this opinion as long as I live.