Game 62: Los Angeles (43-18) vs Oklahoma City (42-16)

[mike3]

David Stern, Stu Jackson and the NBA are a joke.

Matt Barnes is going off on Twitter (although he's deleted a few tweets). He knows that if it were him that he would have been suspended. I'm just waiting for the NBA to issue him a fine greater than that of Ibaka's.

Saw these. I do like how Barnes is just too the point, he say's what he's thinking. Sometimes obviously without considering the consequences but I do like it for the most part. Especially coming from an NBA player.

[mkwest]

So explain to me the difference? My teammate gets a 1 game suspension and 150k+ taking away from him for his groin altercation #strangetome

LeBron James

Matt Barnes calls out NBA for punishment double standard

"You can INTENTIONALLY grab or hit someone in the balls & not get suspended, but you push someone & get suspended. #ImConfused

Let me or Metta World Peace do that & I guarantee its a 5 game suspension .. I [love how] there are different rules, for different people!

So if I would have back handed Ibaka, I would have been the only one to get suspended right??????????????????????????"

Back in February, Barnes was suspended for one game after he received a flagrant 2 for shoving Timberwolves center Greg Stiemsma in the neck. The NBA also suspended Barnes for one game back in November 2012 after he pleaded no contest to “resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer” following an offseason arrest. At the time, Barnes called that suspension a “JOKE.”

The NBA did assess a one-game suspension to Kings center DeMarcus Cousins for a low blow similar to Ibaka’s that Cousins delivered to Mavericks guard O.J. Mayo in December. Like Barnes and World Peace, Cousins has a lengthier history of disciplinary issues than does Ibaka.

Ben golliver, Sports Illustrated

[mkwest]

Saw these. I do like how Barnes is just too the point, he say's what he's thinking. Sometimes obviously without considering the consequences but I do like it for the most part. Especially coming from an NBA player.

The NBA hates when players, coaches or owners speak their minds. While agree that it shouldn't be disrespectful, they should be allowed to air their grievances.

All most people want is consistency. When it's not consistent then it opens up the floodgates for people to cry that there are biases or double standards. When it's inconsistent it makes Stern and the NBA look more like Vince McMahon and the WWE (Sports Entertainment) where stipulations are implemented on a whim.

[mkwest]

Ibaka ruling stuns Blake Griffin

"From what I heard, I guess he's saying he was just trying to get his hand away from mine," Griffin said. "I actually didn't have his hand. He had my arm, so I don't know how it's going to be interpreted. It is surprising [he won't be suspended], but it is a big game tonight and I don't think they want one of their .. I really don't know. It's a big game."

"I don't really see how it can be let go," Griffin said. "But I'm not going to do anything about it. I'm not going to cry and complain."

Kobe Bryant said Monday he would have "smacked [Ibaka] in the mouth" if he were Griffin and "dealt with the pain after."

"In that situation, I probably couldn't have," Griffin said. "It's not really my job to start running around punching people and hitting people because it doesn't really solve anything. It really just gets myself in trouble, and I don't want that. When something like that happens, I feel it's best to let someone else take care of it because me going and punching somebody isn't really a part of the game.

"I understand what Kobe is saying. You can't really tolerate that, but especially in that point in the game, I didn't need to be getting into a scuffle with the game being on the line and us trying to claw our way back in it."

"But if I started swinging every time I got my jersey tugged at, I probably would be swinging on every single play."

Arash Markazi, ESPN Los Angeles

[mkwest]

Kid Blake: Who are you? Future Blake: you from the future... Don't listen to anything else I've told you just start wearing a cup.

Blake Griffin

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I had a feeling Ibaka wouldn't be suspended when the NBA took so long to say anything about the incident. I think they handled this horribly.

That Blake tweet was funny. I read it when he tweeted it.

[mkwest]

Good Cop, Bad Cop....

Stern says Ibaka deserved ejection for low-blow on Griffin

David Stern told reporters on a visit to Golden State Friday night that Serge Ibaka should have received a flagrant 2 after officials' review for his low blow against the Clippers last Sunday. Stern also said he was not part of the review that upgraded Ibaka's foul to a flagrant 2 without suspension by the league this week.

Two odd things about this. One, it's odd that Stern had no involvement in the decision as it's often thought that Stern has his hands in everything that has to do with league business. Two, it's rare that Stern will say things counter to the league's decision. But this one was pretty obvious.

Given the kind of Flagrant 2's that have been handed out this season, not tossing Ibaka from that game was egregious. To then respond by not punishing him more than a paltry $25,000 fine is kind of absurd.

Matt Moore, CBS Sports

The question has nagged at a lot of us all week: How on Earth did Serge Ibaka avoid a one-game suspension for swinging down into Blake Griffin's crotch on national TV?

I can't remember a disciplinary decision from the league office that triggered so much commentary from active players on Twitter -- most notably from LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Blake Griffin himself -- but we now have an answer.

Some checking with the league office this week revealed that Stu Jackson & Co. deemed Ibaka's contact with Griffin's, uh, groin area to be unintentional. The league view, I'm told, is that Ibaka was slapping at an arm that Griffin unexpectedly pulled away, leading to the painful connection and thus distinguishing the play from the "groin altercations" that earned Wade and DeMarcus Cousins suspensions earlier this season.

My view is that Ibaka unequivocally should have been suspended for a game anyway, because when you swing that hard -- no matter what you are aiming at -- you have to be accountable for the final outcome. When a defender tries to make a hard play on the ball and winds up connecting with a driver's head, there are consequences. Same thing here.

Marc Stein, ESPN

I threw Stern's name into the bunch, but I guess it looks like I'd be owing him an apology. I was right on the money with Jackson though. So according to Stu Jackson, it was Blake's own fault that he got hit where it counts. That is the stupidest reasoning that they could possibly come up with Anytime a player gets hit, all they can say is that it was the other player's fault for getting in my way, because I was just trying to swing or kick at the air. Incompetent pieces of trash. I can only hope that Jackson gets "unintentionally" hit in his soon. Jackass.