Posted on 04/25/2012 12:50:21 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Metta World Peace harmed much more than his own tattered reputation when he viciously elbowed Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the head.
The Los Angeles Lakers troublemaker also deprived his team of his services as their starting small forward and defensive stopper for at least six playoff games while he serves his 10th suspension in the past decade.
The NBA suspended World Peace for seven games on Tuesday for the inexplicable blow that gave Harden a concussion, keeping the former Ron Artest sidelined for most of the first postseason round.
World Peace was ejected from Sunday’s game against the Thunder for striking Oklahoma City’s top reserve. He claimed the blow was an accidental, overzealous celebration of a dunk, yet even Kobe Bryant and his Lakers teammates weren’t defending his inexplicable actions.
“It’s hard to get into a guy’s head and know exactly what happened in that situation,” Bryant said. “I haven’t really spoken to him about it. You’ve really got to ask him.”
World Peace will miss the Lakers’ season finale on Thursday at Sacramento and the Lakers’ next six games. The playoffs open Saturday, and Los Angeles is likely to be the Western Conference’s third seed — and Oklahoma City is locked into the No. 2 seed, meaning the clubs could meet right after World Peace’s suspension ends in the second round.
He will lose nearly $348,000 in salary if he serves the entire suspension this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
A criminal Battery indictment would have been more appropriate.
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Umm....
Mr. Commissioner:
After 10 previous career suspensions...
And now totally uncalled for ON-COURT VIOLENCE....
...That would get any reasonable person ARRESTED AND JAILED FOR AGGRAVATED BATTERY...
At what point does the NBA re-visit the league's "banned-from-the-game" paradigm??
He's a great physical player but doesn't have the maturity or temperament to control himself, so therefore he's an overall detriment to the team. I guess the Lakers are about to find that out the hard way.
I think he was off his meds for day.
Seriously.
< The Los Angeles Lakers troublemaker >
Is that a position?
Would this qualify as “workplace violence”?
Try and imagine if Whirled Peas were white and beat down a black man like that.
OMG - the race riots would be intense!
But - its another instance of black on black crime so...
No big deal.
They kept it 7 games because they wanted the Lakers in the second round. LA is one of the top three markets, so it is all about the money.
That photo doesn’t show the story in my opinion. If you look at the video you see him pounding his chest - I’m the king of the hill, nothing can stop me, nothing can get in my way. That’s the way I would read it.
I don’t think the elbow to the head was deliberate per se, but rather he showed complete disregard for anything around him - he was in a frighteningly dangerous state.
Kermit Washington landing a cheap shot on Rudy Tomjanovich.
World Peace must think he is playing Hockey.
Oklahoma City has a NBA team?
What a joke. David Stern is the worst commissioner in any league. He essentially ruined the Indiana Pacers for 5 years and took them out of clear contention for the NBA title when Artest started (or arguably provoked) the brawl at the Palace. A much more brutal act against Harden gets him a seat for the first round—not 67 games. Why? Because the Lakers matter for the media package. Small market teams don’t. You NEVER see this in the NFL, where small market teams routinely play for and win it all.
I’m so done with the NBA.
Really, he pounded his chest multiple times with his right hand, never borught up his left until the elbow, never brought his left to his chest. It was deliberate. If you slow it down, you can see him shoot a stare at Harden.
If the elbow wasn’t deliberate it’s only because Artest is so egotistical that he couldn’t be bothered to notice the guy walking up to and past him and TOUCHING him before he swung his elbow. It was either a willful level of ignorance or deliberate, and given the frequency of his suspensions deliberate seems likely.
Ron Artest became Metta World Peace and then goes on to prove that he should have changed his name to Metta World War :)
RE: Oklahoma City has a NBA team?
Absolutely, and a damn Good one too !!]
They might even WIN the championship this year ( they have the second best win-lose record this season ).
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