Gerald Wallace hospitalized

[INKtastic]

Meh. If it was a Laker, it would be talked on PTI about how our player should be suspended 10 games (or if it was Kobe or Bynum injured, the whole season) and the commissioner would likely comply because of media pressure and he can make a stand against lesser teams.

Ugh, the NBA is broken. Please new commissioner, please

I disagree with that - the league would do the same penalty regardless. I do believe, though, that the same people who are defending the play because it's a laker would be irate if it was Kobe on the receiving end.

I also think it'd get more coverage on ESPN - it's not even mentioned on the nba front page, the headline story is "Kobe fouls out ad Bobcats tip Lakers", the injury isn't mentioned until the 5th paragraph of the story and only gets 2 paragraphs.

[microfib4thewin]

Meh. If it was a Laker, it would be talked on PTI about how our player should be suspended 10 games (or if it was Kobe or Bynum injured, the whole season) and the commissioner would likely comply because of media pressure and he can make a stand against lesser teams.

Ugh, the NBA is broken. Please new commissioner, please

Stern is so great at protecting big media teams, that's why Kobe got suspended from elbowing people on awkward follow ups(and they suspended him right after the first elbowing incident) and KG got suspended for taunting opponents.

Yes, it was a bad foul and Bynum should not have stick his elbow out. That doesn't mean you can exaggerate to the point where all big media team gets away with murder.

[microfib4thewin]

I disagree with that - the league would do the same penalty regardless. I do believe, though, that the same people who are defending the play because it's a laker would be irate if it was Kobe on the receiving end.

I would be irate, but I wouldn't call anyone dirty unless they show an intent to hit a player's vital spot or have a history of incidents like Bowen.

[planaria]

It was as dirty as a play can be. There were several ways to stop Gerald (even with softer flagrants fouls) without that damage.

[civic10sec]

How many games did Shaq get for whacking Rodney Stuckey?

[ropjhk]

3 game suspension at least I would wager.

It was a dirty play. Never are there intentions to injure, but Bynum should know better than to lead with his elbow into Wallace's rib cage.

[NetsForce]

Injuries are trying to keep my fantasy team down, but I will survive.

(Chandler, Wallace, Ariza )

[Yangsing]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=QbcjL7AVxMA

elbow into the chest, that is brutal, suspension for life!

Suspend Bynum and be done with it.

P.S. - Nice defense there Kobe ->

[RoxFan08]

I gotta agree with Schadenfreude.

It really looks like he just got caught moving without thinking what he was going to do. I know the play looks really bad in slow mo, but we have to remember that the game is played in real time...the whole thing happened pretty damn fast. It definitely looks to me like Bynum was trying to step over and take the charge and then last second realized he wasn't going to make it and put up his arms to protect himself.

I think the flagrant foul was warranted, as should a fine and perhaps even a 1 or 2 game suspension to show the players in the league that that kind of play isn't okay and will be penalized, but he certainly doesn't deserve a long suspension, and I don't really believe he went up there with the intention of injuring Wallace.

[Sting3r]

Shaq does this quite often but never gets labeled as dirty.

This just happens to be another case of Laker envy. Bynum is a Laker so therefore everyone is just hating. Just admit it folks.

The way I see it is Gerald Wallace is running full force at Bynum, you could say he was trying dunk on Bynum. What the hell is Bynum supposed to do? His first reaction was to put his shield up. Its either that or be on the bad end of an attempted dunk.

Your best shield would be both hands, and push even. Bynum is pretty long and has good extension, using your arms is alot more protective than using and elbow.

Bynum made a poor choice, with intent or not he should be suspended to send him a message. Wallace is sent a message each time he is hurt, no reason Bynum should be exempt from what he deserves.

so your saying its ok to push someone while he's in mid air? Nice logic there buddy. This coming from someone who says Bynum made a poor decision.

As for putting his hands up, if you watch the video again, Gerald Wallace was already in his grill right when he stepped in front of him. IMO if he had more time to set in front of him, he would of most likely raised his hands.

[TommyTheCat]

We should bookmark this for when people say the league has gone soft and the 80's and 90's were when real men played basketball and not protected by the ref's......

actually this thread and many of the posts back up the notion that the league is soft. in the 80s a play like this was a common occurrence and fans new it. players were much more guarded when attacking the basket because the big men were taught to give no easy lay ups or dunks. i think bynum's foul was hard and as others stated, meant to send a message. i wonder if bynum's mindset might be learned from his training with kaj.

i wouldn't doubt that bynum draws a suspension but he definitely wouldn't have in the 80s.

hopefully wallace will be ok

[Cevap]

We should bookmark this for when people say the league has gone soft and the 80's and 90's were when real men played basketball and not protected by the ref's......

Yup...

I really don't think it was that bad, it was a very hard foul, but everything happened so fast I really doubt Bynum had time to process "I'm going to send a message now."

It looked like he ran in to foul him as quick as possible and it just happened

Just cause the play happened fast doesn't mean that Bynum didn't try to send a message. It was towards the end of the regular game and Wallace might've had more then a few shots in the paint up until that point...i didn't see the game so i don't know. It was a freak accident and Bynum didn't try to hurt him as bad as he did but still, he did it and should pay. One game imo due to it being a freaky occurance imo...

[BubbaTee]

Meh. If it was a Laker, it would be talked on PTI about how our player should be suspended 10 games (or if it was Kobe or Bynum injured, the whole season) and the commissioner would likely comply because of media pressure and he can make a stand against lesser teams.

Ugh, the NBA is broken. Please new commissioner, please

I disagree with that - the league would do the same penalty regardless. I do believe, though, that the same people who are defending the play because it's a laker would be irate if it was Kobe on the receiving end.

I also think it'd get more coverage on ESPN - it's not even mentioned on the nba front page, the headline story is "Kobe fouls out ad Bobcats tip Lakers", the injury isn't mentioned until the 5th paragraph of the story and only gets 2 paragraphs.

Actually, we've already seen that the league treats superstars differently.

Bibby's face + Kobe's elbow = foul on Bibby

Lebron's clothesline on Wade = no suspension

[RapsVC15]

Yeah that's definitely intentional

If Stern had any balls he'd give Bynum a 10+ game suspension, but we all know he'll probably get a game or two.

[TyCobb]

Hopefully Wallace is okay.

[sarah42]

There's only one four page thread about this yet the forum was up in arms about KG setting a hard screen on Marco?

Lol @ haters.

lol..actually there were at least 4 threads on that topic alone.

lakers fans claiming they are victims of hate on this forum? isn't this the same place where everyone knew for sure the c's would get stomped on, in 4 by the lakeshow in the finals? please.

as for Gerald, best wishes. that is a hard condition to recover from. i feel so bad for his family. tragic things keep on happening to him.

bynum seems like a really soft spoken dude, kinda innocent looking for a 7 footer anyway. but a lot of people in this world are punished for things, even when they didn't mean to hurt someone. intentional or not, he's going to get punished for this somehow. it is what it is.

[Deity Allah]

It's official, he has a broken rib and collasped lung

[civic10sec]

he did it and should pay.

LOL

Should pay? You act like he killed the guy. I guess Shaq should pay for whacking Rodney Stucky.

[sarah42]

Damn. I'm praying for him. I hope everyone else does the same.

[lakerfan10770]

Nevermind....