Well put.

Rec’d.

Via ESPN.com
Rajon Rondo did not commit a flagrant foul against Brad Miller.

Says who? The NBA, that’s who.

Rondo
Rondo
The league office ruled Wednesday that the referees acted properly when they did not assess a flagrant foul against the Boston guard after he whacked Chicago’s Miller in the mouth with two seconds remaining in Game 5 of the Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls series Tuesday night.

A league spokesman said the play “stands as called,” meaning there will be no further penalty against Rondo. League officials had the option of upgrading the foul to a flagrant — category 1 or a flagrant-category 2 — the latter of which occasionally can come with an accompanying suspension, if NBA officials deem the foul particularly egregious.

The blow from Rondo bloodied Miller’s lower lip, and Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro argued vehemently that a flagrant foul should have been called. But official Mark Wunderlich could be seen explaining to Del Negro that the referees believed Rondo was swiping at the ball.

“We felt Rondo was making a basketball play and going for the ball after a blown defensive assignment by the Celtics team,” Jackson said. “In terms of criteria we use to evaluate a flagrant foul penalty 1, generally we like to consider whether or not there was a wind-up, an appropriate level of impact, and a follow through. And on this foul, we did not see a wind-up, nor did he follow through, so for that reason we’re not going to upgrade this foul to a flagrant foul penalty 1. The initial play, in our mind, was on the ball — an effort to try and make an attempt on the ball and take a foul that would prohibit a game-tying basket.”

After a lengthy delay to treat Miller’s wound (his tooth pierced his lip, resulting in a laceration that later required stitches), Miller missed the first free throw, then committed a violation when his intentionally missed second foul shot did not hit the rim.

“Rondo didn’t come near the ball. He came right across his face. I agree that it is a hard playoff foul, but you still have to call it a flagrant and I’m sure that will be addressed,” Del Negro said afterward.

Had the play been ruled a flagrant foul, Chicago would have retained possession following Miller’s free throws.

Had the league reclassified the foul as a flagrant, it could have opened the door for the Bulls to file a protest — although Jackson said an on-the-floor judgment call by a referee, even one that might later be reversed, would not be sufficient grounds for a protest.

Bulls general manager John Paxson declined to comment on Jackson’s ruling.

If anyone is watching the Heat/Hawks game, you just saw Dwayne Wade make a clear play for the ball from behind (and actually made contact with the ball), never touched the opposing player’s head (Mo Evans), Evans momentarily held the rim and in combination with the lower body contact with Wade, made both players fall to the ground in a manner that looked much worse than it actually was, the crowd goes crazy, Mike Woodson runs out onto the floor, and after a short period of discussion amongst the officials, decided that Wade was going to get a Flagrant 1. I repeat, Wade was hit with a Flagrant 1 for typical foul, and Rondo, even after league review, gets nothing after punching another player in the face to the point that it drew blood and knocked loosed the opposing player’s tooth! The hypocrisy continues…

If the league doesn’t review this and reverse the call, what kind of outcry do you think fans of the Heat will have? Not that it will matter, because this play actually shifted the momentum of the game into the Hawks favor and now they are up double-digits after only being up 4 points before the play happened. Also, its curious that the officials felt it wasn’t necessary to review the play to ensure the right call was made. Its probably because they had just moments before, taken several minutes to review a play so they could dole out technical fouls for a minor skirmish. Oye!

nicely done,fellow basketball fan. and how about kg pushing a ref !? nothing happened back then,remember? and to punish a guy like dwight,i can’t believe that. i never liked celtics,but after this series,i almost hate them. they should gave up playoffs and let bulls advance,honestly! bulls are much much better team and all congrats go to them. keep fighting guys! and us… we will keep loving b-ball… even with stern and his companions… even if it is not even close to that league from the 80-90… that was a golden age..
hopefully it will be again like back then someday?

Is that they saw something in the Rondo foul that allowed them to interpret it as a basketball play. I don’t think they want to suspend big name guys in the later rounds of the playoffs, and I think if you give them the opportunity to interpret it as an honest error, they’ll give you the benefit of the doubt where possible.

But there was nothing about Howard’s elbow that gave them that option.

The closed fist is what gets me. Nobody makes a play on the ball with a fist. He intentionally punched Miller and should have been issued a Flagrant 2.

Whatever, though.

Rondo let off for Game 6 skirmish

NEW YORK — The NBA has decided not to take any additional action against Rajon Rondo for his skirmish with Kirk Hinrich in Game 6.

The league said Friday the first-quarter play would stand as a flagrant foul against Rondo. It could have upgraded the foul or even suspended the Celtics’ point guard for Game 7 of the series Saturday.

Chicago was leading 34-25 Thursday when Derrick Rose rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Boston’s Stephon Marbury with 30 seconds left. That’s when Rondo shoved Hinrich into the scorer’s table. Hinrich pushed him back and Rondo then threw an elbow that missed.

The league previously declined to further penalize Rondo for his foul on Brad Miller in the closing seconds of Game 5.

SOURCE

It’s absolutely ridiculous how hypocritical the NBA league officials are being right now.