Metta World Peace elbow to Harden

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I love the Harden was asking for it responses. The Thunder were trying to inbound the ball. Artest is running around like a crazy person but somehow it is Harden's fault.

you see a crazy person celebrating with elbows out and you run into him, why? Its like seeing a drunk driver headed towards you, you could make a turn onto another street and avoid it but instead drive directly at him. Harden did NOT deserve it but he could've avoided as well, the ball was not going to be inbounded to him dont use that rational, he did the same thing with Chandler last year and lucked out that Chandler elbow didn't connect.

And whole thing could have been avoided if Artest could control himself. Artest was beating his chest. The only "celebrating with elbows" I saw was when he was right next to Harden. After the elbow he went right back to beating his chest. Personally I have never seen anybody celebrate by throwing elbows but that is just me.

[Neutral 123]

ok, so you deliberately run into someone doing that?

LOL, the only elbow was the one he threw into Harden's head.

[LApwnd]

And whole thing could have been avoided if Artest could control himself. Artest was beating his chest. The only "celebrating with elbows" I saw was when he was right next to Harden. After the elbow he went right back to beating his chest. Personally I have never seen anybody celebrate by throwing elbows but that is just me.

again not saying it wasn't intentional it was clearly intentional and he knew what he was doing but Harden could've also avoided the situation altogether, he wanted to get in Artest way and make contact, its unfortunate Artest is a nut job.

[Confiture]

I don't see how some people can find excuses for Artest.
Even if Harden ran into him, so what??
They bumped into each other so Artest fully knew that someone was right next to him. He should then have stopped his "celebration" but nooooo not Artest he doesn't give a **** and does this

[TheXFactor]

Harden was being a troll when he jumped into Peace, so I would reduce Peace suspension.

[Thundestruck]

Your acting like Harden ran up and bodied up Artest. The video clearly shows Artest made contact first. The Thunder are on offense and inbounding the ball. Since when is it the offensive players' responsibility to get out of the way of defender who is not paying attention?

[INKtastic]

you see a crazy person celebrating with elbows out and you run into him, why? Its like seeing a drunk driver headed towards you, you could make a turn onto another street and avoid it but instead drive directly at him. Harden did NOT deserve it but he could've avoided as well, the ball was not going to be inbounded to him dont use that rational, he did the same thing with Chandler last year and lucked out that Chandler elbow didn't connect.

Artest only had his elbows out once in that celebration...

ok, so you deliberately run into someone doing that?

he wasn't doing that when they ran into each other - the only time artist swung his elbow was after the contact

[LApwnd]

Your acting like Harden ran up and bodied up Artest. The video clearly shows Artest made contact first. The Thunder are on offense and inbounding the ball. Since when is it the offensive players' responsibility to get out of the way of defender who is not paying attention?

if Harden didn't make contact 1st, how would Artest know to turn around and elbow?

[Jan_Sobieski]

I don't think Harden will be jumping in front of Peace anymore when celebrating.

Thats for sure.

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

And whole thing could have been avoided if Artest could control himself. Artest was beating his chest. The only "celebrating with elbows" I saw was when he was right next to Harden. After the elbow he went right back to beating his chest. Personally I have never seen anybody celebrate by throwing elbows but that is just me.

again not saying it wasn't intentional it was clearly intentional and he knew what he was doing but Harden could've also avoided the situation altogether, he wanted to get in Artest way and make contact, its unfortunate Artest is a nut job.

Who knows if Harden was trying to get on Artests way or not. I mean I play basketball and sometimes people just get into each others way. It happens and when it does the last thing I expect is an elbow in the head. Artest could have just pushed him instead but for reasons that only make sense to Artest he decided to wind up and throw and elbow. Regardless, and the big picture is that Artest made himself a liberality to the NBA by reverting back to his old ways.

[Thundestruck]

Your acting like Harden ran up and bodied up Artest. The video clearly shows Artest made contact first. The Thunder are on offense and inbounding the ball. Since when is it the offensive players' responsibility to get out of the way of defender who is not paying attention?

if Harden didn't make contact 1st, how would Artest know to turn around and elbow?

Have you watched the video? Artest ran right into him. At best you could say Harden got into Artest's path but he didn't even create contact.

[devmil]

Harden was being a troll when he jumped into Peace, so I would reduce Peace suspension.

Yeah trolls deserve a shot on the head by an elbow.

[desertlakerfan]

I don't see how some people can find excuses for Artest.
Even if Harden ran into him, so what??
They bumped into each other so Artest fully knew that someone was right next to him. He should then have stopped his "celebration" but nooooo not Artest he doesn't give a **** and does this

those are some ABC caliber editing skills there.

Yes if you just look at the elbow part repeatedly it looks much worse than what actually took place.

In real time, the "celebration" takes place in less than 2 seconds. Im sorry to say that when you are that pumped up(dunking on ibaka and durant) those 2 seconds aren't enough time to stop and think rationally about who might be running up your back.

[Leto]

Harden making normal basketball contact has zero to do with this. Artest deliberatly raised his elbow, wound up and cracked Harden in the side of the head. Given his history of altercations, I say nothing less than a permanant ban from the NBA will suffice.

[Leto]

I don't see how some people can find excuses for Artest.
Even if Harden ran into him, so what??
They bumped into each other so Artest fully knew that someone was right next to him. He should then have stopped his "celebration" but nooooo not Artest he doesn't give a **** and does this

those are some ABC caliber editing skills there.

Yes if you just look at the elbow part repeatedly it looks much worse than what actually took place.

In real time, the "celebration" takes place in less than 2 seconds. Im sorry to say that when you are that pumped up(dunking on ibaka and durant) those 2 seconds aren't enough time to stop and think rationally about who might be running up your back.

That's a ridiculous rationalization. It doesn't matter if you're celebrating or sitting on the bench. If that were the rule, every night would be an all out brawl.

[LApwnd]

Your acting like Harden ran up and bodied up Artest. The video clearly shows Artest made contact first. The Thunder are on offense and inbounding the ball. Since when is it the offensive players' responsibility to get out of the way of defender who is not paying attention?

if Harden didn't make contact 1st, how would Artest know to turn around and elbow?

Have you watched the video? Artest ran right into him. At best you could say Harden got into Artest's path but he didn't even create contact.

perspective, I see Harden delibertely get in Artest way he knew what he was doing, Artest didn't see who was in his way and felt contact and swung, Artest is a nut case no way to justify his actions just saying Harden could've avoided it altogether but like his Chanlder incident he wanted to get in there but forunately there wasn't enough room to flop like he did against Chandler and got the full force, whatever Artest is suspended for I would not argue it he deserves every bit of that suspension.

[Leto]

It doesn't matter if Harden "ran up and got in his way." That's ridiculous. The entire game is people "running up and getting in your way."

[LApwnd]

It doesn't matter if Harden "ran up and got in his way." That's ridiculous. The entire game is people "running up and getting in your way."

so the saying is Harden wanted to get the ball inbounded to him and instead of avoiding traffic you run into it to get the ball in bounded to you?

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I don't see how some people can find excuses for Artest.
Even if Harden ran into him, so what??
They bumped into each other so Artest fully knew that someone was right next to him. He should then have stopped his "celebration" but nooooo not Artest he doesn't give a **** and does this

those are some ABC caliber editing skills there.

Yes if you just look at the elbow part repeatedly it looks much worse than what actually took place.

In real time, the "celebration" takes place in less than 2 seconds. Im sorry to say that when you are that pumped up(dunking on ibaka and durant) those 2 seconds aren't enough time to stop and think rationally about who might be running up your back.

And that is the problem with Artest. He does not think rational. There are tons of players in the NBA who get excited after making a big play yet Artest is one of the only few who does not have enough control from throwing an elbow.

[Thundestruck]

If Harden was trying to make contact to flop it was an awful, awful job considering he didn't even make body contact. At best he got into Artest's way.

I've seen Harden flop plenty of times. He's one of the best at it. That was not a flop attempt.