Thoughts on the Ariza, Odom Foul and Scrum

I was waiting for an email and got a little too involved while commenting on ESPN's article about Lamar Odom's possible suspension. The following is what I wrote in the comments. Realize that a lot of this was in response to inane things that Lakers fans were posting, but I stand by my arguments.

If you've ever played organized basketball, it would be obvious to you that Ariza deserved a suspension. His team was down by 30 and he was playing awful, he went for a hard frustration foul. Did he mean to hurt Fernandez? Maybe not. But he did mean to deliver a hard foul. These hard fouls in blow out games should be punished so that it stops happening. If players continue to make these intentional statement fouls, players will get hurt and fights will occur. People argue that he 'clearly went for the ball,' but what is also clear is that Ariza was going to knock the hell out of Fernandez regardless of whether he got the ball or not, and this should be punished.

Hold on, you are arguing that it was not a hard foul? As soon as Fernandez caught the ball with Ariza chasing him, did anyone not see that foul coming? Ariza wound up and swung at the ball. If you hit a player with that amount of force from behind when he is in the air, it's not going to end well. Ariza swung with full force at a defenseless player at his most vulnerable point. Ariza knew that Fernandez was going to hit the ground hard. He also knew exactly what he was doing. People seem to assume that since the game is so fast, players have no control over their bodies. If you've ever played the game, you know this is not true. Ariza should be punished because his team was being run off the court and he took it out on Fernandez. Just because he made an attempt at the ball does not mean he wasn't trying to make an obvious statement foul. It's completely an unsafe play and the NBA should not look the other way.

And this going off of one leg versus two is a ridiculous argument. When you are in the open court on a fast break and being chased, you always go off of one foot. If you go off of two it slows you down and gives the defensive player a chance to get back into the play. As the offensive player, you just assume that the guy chasing you is not going to take a cheap shot, which unfortunately is exactly what took place.

I think Odom will get the 1 day mandatory suspension, but would not be surprised if it was more severe. Not only did he leave the bench, but he got involved with Brandon Roy. This is very different from the Spurs/Suns debacle in that Stoudemire and Diaw never got close to the action. Odom stuck himself right in the middle of it and had to be pulled back by his coaches. I bet this is what the NBA is discussing right now, not whether or not he left the bench, but if his punishment should be more severe since he put himself in the middle of the scrum.

Exactly, I guess most of these commenters have never played. I've been in that situation before. Getting blown out, things not going my way, so I lay a guy out. I would almost always get a piece of the ball, but that does not mean I wasn't trying to knock the hell out of the guy and send a message. It's a good way to instigate a fight or injure a player. He should be punished.

On paper, the Laker's path to the championship did look difficult. But what everyone seems to forget is that the Spurs had Manu playing on one leg. The team the Spurs had on the court against the Lakers was not their full team, and were not the team that earned a great record. Look at the Spurs record this year without Manu, 12 and 12. They are a .500 team without Manu, and exceptional with him.