Metta World Peace elbow to Harden

[Else_where]

How many games Melo got for that punch on the Knicks and Nuggets brawl a few years back?

I'd say Artest gets at least that and then some.

15-20

[sfernald]

I can't believe some fans on here have said:

1. It was unintentional.
2. It was a harmless flop by Harden.
3. Harden was asking for it.
4. Okc is for some reason faking the injury.


This forum is disgusting sometimes. If we found out tomorrow that Harden dies in his sleep due to the concussion, how would you live with yourselves?

[Donald Kaufman]

The Lakers are just a bunch of spoiled brats. I'd be embarrassed to be a fan of them right now.

[theokie]

And give me a break, the Malice happened 8 years ago

Artest's thuggish clotheslining of JJ Barea happened 1 year ago.

I think you mean bynum!

Artest got ejected for a foul on Barea in that series too

[-[Clippers]-]

And give me a break, the Malice happened 8 years ago

Artest's thuggish clotheslining of JJ Barea happened 1 year ago.

I think you mean bynum!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/ ... index.html

[-[Clippers]-]

The Lakers are just a bunch of spoiled brats. I'd be embarrassed to be a fan of them right now.

In before delusional Laker fans post a bunch of lame crying .GIFs.

[EArl]

[UGotThrilled]

That may have helped the Lakers get better seeding for Playoffs. There is no way the league can go light on that, or else the elbow will be a net positive for the Lakers.

[redux46]

Can't believe so many people are against World Peace

Shame on you

[peja drobnjak]

is jim harden gonna be okay? have there been any reports?

[[GR]]

The World Peace defense:

[The MVPlaya]

That was more of a "get off me" than "I'm going to clock this dude in his head" type of thing. It happened quickly and Artest was emotional after the dunk. Some of ya'll are overreacting AS USUAL when it comes to these types of things.

I can see where Artest is coming from. Don't be running all up on me like that. You gotta give a man some space when he's pumped up and emotional. Harden ran into Artest first. He could have walked by him but chose to walk INTO him. That's disrespectful. So he got hit. He could have totally avoided the whole situation.

[MastaStrategist]

Lakers trainers cleared him to play. OKC just played it safe. He's not injured. And give me a break, the Malice happened 8 years ago

To you and those who think like you, think through what you're saying:

You're asserting the fact that because something happened 8 years ago makes it no longer relevant.

However, the fact that he acts like this now basically means he's still the same hair trigger guy from 8 years ago despite years of therapy and punishments.

Stern should be looking at every punishment he gives and say: What am I accomplishing?

In the case of Artest, why would anyone think a temporary punishment will keep him from doing this again? If the punishment doesn't curtail the behavior, only two logical options make sense: 1) Ban the player, or 2) Accept the behavior.

Hopefully it's obvious to everyone that the behavior can't be accepted, so Stern needs to at the very least strongly consider the ban.

If you give him a 2-3 game suspension you're not accepting the behavior. To these dude's saying he should get 10 games or a lifetime ban, I think they have a clear agenda against the Lakers

[Kobe2ndFiddle]

Artest did not want to floor Harden, he probably didn't realize how close Harden was to him.

what I will admit to is that Artest was definitely trying to start conflict with that elbow swing.

[MastaStrategist]

That was more of a "get off me" than "I'm going to clock this dude in his head" type of thing. It happened quickly and Artest was emotional after the dunk. Some of ya'll are overreacting AS USUAL when it comes to these types of things.

I can see where Artest is coming from. Don't be running all up on me like that. You gotta give a man some space when he's pumped up and emotional. Harden ran into Artest first. He could have walked by him but chose to walk INTO him. That's disrespectful. So he got hit. He could have totally avoided the whole situation.

People just love to play commissioner, and love to get carried away doing it

[BBgun]

look at the recent hockey suspension....Torres just got 25 games for a brutal hit. The NHL clamped down and basically said its unnaceptable. And we're talking about a contact sport that condones fighting and guys getting hit hard all the time. This is basketball. There is no room for BS like this. Don't people get this? Whats a 3 to 5 game suspension really going to teach Artest? I'm part of the side that hopes Stern enforces a zero tolerance policy and puts the hammer down.

In the wake of Torres hit, and the NFL bounty scandal, Artest picked a really dumb time to fully deck an unsuspecting player.

[Doctor MJ]

Because what the **** is Harden doing getting in the way of MWP? He looked like he seeked MWP too right after he made the shot.

I'm curious what it is you think Harden could have been doing that would make Artest look sane. I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, but certainly if I'm Stern, I figure out exactly what Harden was doing before and during that play.

Just as an example: The Zidane headbutt. When you see that play it just seems obvious that the other guy said something to set him off. That doesn't excuse Zidane from punishment, but if the trash talking was bad enough then there's a certain degree of "Dude was trying to set Zidane off, and got what he wanted. If you don't want to get headbutted, then don't talk about his sister."

However, it seems pretty clear that Harden had no idea this was coming. Artest's also not a player good enough to warrant doing this too strategically.

[-[Clippers]-]

If you give him a 2-3 game suspension you're not accepting the behavior.

An unprecedented 86-game suspension clearly didn't convince Artest to stop the dirty BS, what would a 2-3 game suspension do?

[druggas]

The Lakers are just a bunch of spoiled brats. I'd be embarrassed to be a fan of them right now.

Wouldn't want you any how.

[hollabackitsobi]

That was INCREDIBLY dangerous, and I'm not a Lakers fan at all, and don't really buy that it was accidental...but does anyone remember the Vince Carter "Olympic Dunk" where he almost took Kevin Garnett's head off with his celebration?

Could Artest's explanation possibly be legitimate, maybe?

or paul piercen punching the ref in the finals
but no, he knew he was there and purposely raised his elbow level imo....he'll claim ignorance and that he didn't know but it was 100% intentional imo

I mean, you punish the act, no matter what. That's horrendously dangerous. But, yeah. I just wanted to toss that out there to see if anyone else thought the same.