Perkins

[NBA Analyst+]

Magic fan here:

I hardly even feel what happened was a flagrant and was more of a flop.

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Looking at the point 48 seconds, it is clear that Pietrus did not flop. He was hit. That said, the intent from Pekins was clear. He was trying to box out. This was a basketball play and the flagrant 1 was the appropriate action. No further action from the league would make sense. Perkins was not even looking at the play.

Agreed was surprised to see many Boston fans saying it would be a suspension. He isn't looking, although he does his him in the head I don't think the intent was there.

[Allanon]

SHOULD HE get suspended? Absolutely not.

WILL HE get suspended? Definitely yes.

I don't think he should be, but he will be.

Remember back in 07, Boris Diaw and Amare should not have been suspended but they were anyways, because the NBA rules on the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law.

That was pre-meditated, unsportsmanlike, had "follow-through", and most importantly, it was above the shoulders.

All qualifiers in the NBA suspension rules.

Once Perk made contact with Pietrus, if he had just pulled back, he'd be alright. But he gave one more push AND swung his elbow up a bit ... I think that flick of the elbow will doom him.

The Magic lost two players to suspension, already, they're going to raise holy hell if the NBA lets this slide.

I don't think Perk meant to hurt him, but I do think he was trying to send a message. Unfortunately, this is going to cost him a game and the Celtics a series.

He's had several issues with on-the-court anger and it seemed everybody was hoping that it wouldn't cost the Celtics. Perk's gotta control that temper of his because he's finally really hurt the Celtics.

Sorry Celtic fans. I hate the Celtics but I like a good game and this is going to mess it all up. I was hoping for a Laker/Celtic rematch..

[Mahoney_jr]

I don't think that is a suspension. From this playoffs I think Fisher was the most obvious one, Howard was the 2nd and Alston was a matter of definition (for me it was no suspension). Perk isn't comparable with any of this actions, even not with Bryant's flagrant 1 ellbow. It was just a forearm and Pietrus flopped a little bit.

[RickB-Orlando]

Outsiders view: Yes.

I mean what he did was 10x worse than what Alston did o_O...

I'm not going to argue better or worse, but Alston threw a blatant slap to the head in a non basketball situation. How can the league ignore that? That is simply black and white. I dont think you can say the same about what happened with Perk. You have to admit there was some flopping in that incident.

It looked like a fairly good bit of contact. I can see someone saying 'that's basketball' up until the point where he extended his elbow. But that's why they called the flagrant, and it should be done with.

Alston's slap was just a bush league play, and stupid. Probably didn't warrant a suspension but awfully tough to argue against it.

[GYBE]

As a basketball fan, the only suspendable play all playoff long IMO was Fischer taking out Scola.

+1

That's been the only play that really seemed malicious. Everything else should just be flagrants or fines, not taking players out of important playoff games.

[BillessuR6]

Howard`s elbow was also dirty and had nothing to do with basketball, IMO.

[aboubata]

he is as good as gone. this is between fisher and alston play and he will get suspended.

[RickB-Orlando]

Howard`s elbow was also dirty and had nothing to do with basketball, IMO.

Sorry, you lost me there - do you mean the one for which he was suspended? If so, that was obviously blatant and uncalled for, and punished appropriately.

[sp1187]

haha nice backing Celtics. But he wont be suspended because he is a Boston Celtic.

[ryaningf]

I would like to think it's not suspension worthy, but I wouldn't be surprised if Perk got suspended.

Let's all remember some FACTS while we continue this discussion.
1.It wasn't an elbow. It was a forearm to the neck. Nothing was swung in anyone's direction, there was no 'follow through.'
2. Perk wasn't even looking. He was watching the ball and extended his arm in MP's direction. So there was no 'pre-meditation' or 'intent.' Perk made a basketball play, but hit a guy in the neck when he normally would have just put his forearm in a guy's chest.
3. MP CLEARLY flopped to exaggerate the contact and get a call. There was contact, but not THAT much contact.

If Perk's suspended, it'll be for political reasons and because Van Gundy whined in pregame about Alston's deserved suspension.

P.S. Personally, Howard's uncalled illegal pick on Rondo was much more DANGEROUS and VIOLENT than Perk's play and it wasn't even called a foul! If y'all remember that play, Howard illegally picked Rondo, basically crushed him into the floor, and the refs called Scal for pushing Howard into Rondo, which is basically impossible and which was not supported by the video evidence. That pick was one of about 7 illegal picks all game that weren't called...

[BillessuR6]

Sorry, you lost me there - do you mean the one for which he was suspended? If so, that was obviously blatant and uncalled for, and punished appropriately.

Yes and I agree...

[chakdaddy]

The ball wasn't even around Perkins when he threw the elbow so it was basically the same as Alston's hit in that regard.

That's just stupid. The point isn't that "the ball wasn't even around" when Alston's slapped House. Alston just hit a guy intentionally completely out of context of the game, basically between plays. Perkins knocked a guy down jostling for position during a play. What does the location of the ball have to do with anything? That's just really dumb.