OK Rick, I will say it just one more time and perhaps you will understand finally (yeah right). Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw both COMPLETELY LEFT THE BENCH AREA in order to involve themselves (or prtetend they wanted to involve themselves) in the confrontation that was going on between Horry and Bell (IMO Bell dodged a bullet here).
Isn't that an assumption on your part that they intended to get involved in the incident? This is why the rule is stupid. It presumes that the reason they got up was to get involved in an altercation. That is just plain stupid, and it appears the whole world agrees with me about the rule. I saw the game and I saw the replay. I saw Amare and Diaw get up and head down along the sideline. The league says they were 25 feet away from their seats. But there was no altercation, no fight no nothing. I wonder just how much they could see from their seats, particularly since D'Antoni was standing between them and the play, which took place on the same side as their bench.
I imagine they could see that Horry was standing there, and they heard the collision and the noise from the crowd. But it would have been nearly impossible for them to see what happened to Nash.
Bell definitely dodged a bullet, it looked to me like he wanted to take a swing at Horry. And if you think Horry really only weighs 245, I have a bride I'd like to sell you!
Amare took WAAAY more than the 3 steps you said he took, but then, you also said Horry had 100 lbs on Nash. Amare was a solid 10-15 feet from his bench and easily 3-4 feet ON THE PLAYING FLOOR, hence the suspension. The rule SAYS NOTHING about whether they actually become involved in whatever is going on on the floor or not, it says you leave the bench, you get suspended, and Amare hardly just "stood up". You really should watch a game if you are going to comment like you know what happened, 3 step tells me you did not see anything.
I think this rule is far too arbitrary in its enforcement, I would like to see it modified so that if a player does get up, even enter the playing floor, he would be suspended for:
A) Getting involved in any way, shape, form, or fashion, or
B) Have his personal conduct in this situation evaluated on a case by case basis to determine whether a suspension is warranted; ie, was he clearly moving with the intent to involve himself, was he mouthing off so as to escalate, or was he merely looking to help a team mate up or try to see if he was OK. IMO the tape shows that whether he was acting or not, Amare made it look like he was going after Horry, so his suspension is warranted, Diaw is a perfect example of why this rule needs modification, he didn't go out as far as Amare, he did not need restraining, and he didn't have that "I'm going to punch somebody" look, fine him, yes, suspend him, no.
I think the rule has its place, if Auburn Hills didn't convince anyone of that, than maybe that sick, immoral pornography called ultimate fighting is more your speed than basketball. A rule to prevent escalation is a good thing, but a rule that is so black and white zero tolerance is not the way to go.
