New NBA Rules

The NBA has implemented a new anti-flopping rule, stating that “Flops have no place in our game”.  Any player who flops due to little to no contact, will be subject to a warning for the first time. After that, each time that they flop they will be fined in increments of $5,000. After a fifth offense, the increments will upgrade to $30,000 per offense. And they may even suspend players after the fifth time.

Many players flop. The biggest violator is probably Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat. It’s easy to hate him. But Boston fans, remember, Glen Davis embellished every charge call while leading the league in charges taken while he was on the Celtics. I agree that there is no place for it in basketball- play like a man. My basketball coach used to make us practice taking charges and falling. That coupled with the fact that we were an all-white team, probably was the reason why we were an awful team.

Don’t expect to many calls this season, as it will be tough to prove that they are flopping without seeing evidence over the first few months. No ref will want to cause a player to pay $5,000 unless they are absolutely positive that they flopped.

Rondo on the Tip-Off

With the news of his suspension today I should probably talk about that, but it’s too depressing. We’ve already lost one team to heartbreak in the playoffs this month so I can’t really use any more depressing news. Instead, check out this compilation video of Rondo. Not going to lie, I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention to him during the tip but after watching this you bet all eyes will be on him now.

 

Much Needed All-Star Break

20120221-082353.jpgAfter a stretch of wins starting in late January where the C’s won 10 of 12 contests, capped with a big win at home vs. Chicago last week, things have began to fall apart in Boston. The Celtics found themselves spiraling downhill in the past week, losing four straight as of last night against the Mavs. Whenever things start to look up, the cards just seem to stack up against the C’s. As if losing Brandon Bass to a knee injury and KG to family issues wasn’t enough, the Celts lost Rondo for last night’s matchup and Wednesday’s due to a two game suspension. Adding insult to injury, literally, Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Wilcox both left the game in the third last night with injuries. Don’t get me wrong, I love my boy Stiemsma, but unfortunately I don’t see him being the X-factor in the paint for the C’s, at least not yet. I think it’s safe to say no one needs the All-Star break to come sooner than the Celts. A week off from play after Wednesday’s game vs. the Thunder is just what the team needs to regroup and get back to their winning ways.

Weekend Recap

Not the kind of weekend we’d hope for in Boston, but exciting nonetheless. And by exciting, I mean just the Bruins. Let’s just say the Celtics game was slightly less than exhilarating Friday night. It’s kind of hard to win when you only score 25 points in the first half. You just can’t put up those kinds of numbers expect to win, even when it’s the Pacers, regardless of their decent start to the season. This time we can’t even put the blame on the defense. The Pacers put up 87 points and still managed to win by 15 points. Pretty pathetic on the Celts part. Hopefully they can get back on their feet against a struggling Dallas team before they head into a pretty tough run to close out January. As far as the Bruins are concerned, what a game. I mean if you’re looking for intensity, Saturday’s Stanly Cup rematch against the Canucks was just about as intense as it gets. It felt like playoff hockey came 5 months early. Again, I’m not concerned about the loss at all. It sucks we couldn’t beat them, but in the end the game was not all that important in the long run. We’re the ones with the Cup. Not to mention we played pretty much the whole game without Lucic and ended up losing Marchand down the stretch, both to game misconducts. What concerns me is the pending suspensions both, especially Marchand, may be facing. I have a feeling Lucic’s won’t be terrible, if anything, but Marchand’s may be a while. Canuck’s head coach Alain Vigneault said, “Marchand — this is just my feeling on this — some day he’s going to get it.” At the time it turned the garden electric, but looking back it was a foolish move and arguably cost the B’s the game. The Canucks scored twice in the 5 minute major that followed Marchand’s hit. Either way, what do you guys think? With the intensity of the game was the hit just or did Marchand let emotions get the best of him?

Two for Suh

Ndamukong Suh of the Detroits Lions has been suspended for two games without pay for his decision to stomp on a Packers player during the Thanksgiving game this Thursday. I don’t agree with many of Roger Goodells decisions but this is something that needed to be done. Suh’s suspension will cost him $164,000 and potentially cost his team a victory while in the running for a playoff spot for the first time since 1999. Following the game Suh insisted it was unintentional, but then days later proceeded to call commissioner Goodell to apologize. What is there to apologize for if what you did was “unintentional”? The best thing Suh could have done was publicly apologize to his fans and teammates for getting ejected in such an important game and at the time potentially facing a suspension that could cost his team a playoff spot. Maybe this will make him learn? I doubt it.