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Detroit
Pistons
center
Isaiah
Stewart
(28) is
held
back
after a
foul
during
the
second
half of
an NBA
basketball
game
against
the Los
Angeles
Lakers,
Sunday,
Nov. 21,
2021, in
Detroit.
(AP
Photo/Carlos
Osorio) |
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Los
Angeles
Lakers
forward
LeBron
James is
ejected
after
fouling
Detroit
Pistons
center
Isaiah
Stewart
during
the
second
half of
an NBA
basketball
game,
Sunday,
Nov. 21,
2021, in
Detroit.
(AP
Photo/Carlos
Osorio) |
| |
Analysis:
After
another
fracas,
the NBA
had to
hit back
By TIM
REYNOLDS
apnews.com
LeBron
James is
missing
one
game.
Markieff
Morris
is
missing
his
eighth,
with no
end in
sight.
Those
two
things
are more
connected
than
some
might
realize.
By
suspending
James
for
Tuesday
night’s
game
against
New York
— the
Los
Angeles
Lakers’
lone
visit to
Madison
Square
Garden
this
season —
over his
role in
an
incident
in
Detroit
on
Sunday,
the NBA
sent a
very
loud,
very
clear
message
to
anyone
who
might
want to
partake
in
future
on-court
dustups.
Enough
is
enough.
Sunday
night’s
mess in
Detroit
— the
second
significant
on-court
fracas
in the
NBA this
season —
earned
James
the
first
suspension
of his
19-year
career,
plus got
the
Pistons’
Isaiah
Stewart
a
two-game
suspension
on top
of the
eight
stitches
that
were
needed
to close
a gash
in his
head.
“He felt
like he
got a
cheap
shot
across
his
brow,”
Pistons
coach
Dwane
Casey
said.
“On the
street,
it’d be
a
different
story.”
Maybe
so. But
the NBA
isn’t
played
on the
street
and the
league
doesn’t
want
anything
like
that
happening
on its
watch.
So,
after
two very
ugly
incidents
separated
by only
a couple
of
weeks,
the NBA
decided
to hit
back by
sitting
down its
biggest
name.
James
was
ejected
for
throwing
the
elbow
that
turned
the
scuffle
into a
melee.
The NBA
had
options
about
what
other
sanctioning
was
needed.
There
was
precedent
for just
fining
James,
as has
been the
case in
some
similar
situations.
But the
league
evidently
thought
that
wouldn’t
be
enough
and went
with the
suspension,
for a
nationally
televised
game in
arguably
the
world’s
most
famous
arena.
Fans
will
obviously
notice
his
absence.
And NBA
players
will as
well. If
James
can be
suspended,
anybody
can be
suspended.
And that
message
should
resonate
loudly
at a
couple
of
upcoming
games in
the next
few days
— a
Pistons-Lakers
rematch
in Los
Angeles
on
Sunday,
a game
that
both
James
and
Stewart
will be
eligible
to play
in, and
Denver’s
trip to
Miami on
Monday.
Nuggets-Heat
II will
be the
rematch
of a
game on
Nov. 8,
marred
in the
final
moments
by
Morris
overzealously
fouling
reigning
MVP
Nikola
Jokic of
Denver
and
Jokic
responding
with a
hard
forearm
into
Morris’
back.
The
force of
Jokic’s
hit was
enough
to send
Miami’s
245-pound
forward
reeling.
Morris —
generally
considered
one of
the
league’s
tough
guys —
was in
obvious
and
immediate
pain.
Jokic
was
suspended
for one
game.
Morris
hasn’t
played
since,
and the
Heat
have
given no
indication
that
he’s
even
remotely
close to
returning.
Of all
the
principal
players
in these
two
on-court
incidents,
with all
due
respect
to Jokic
and
James
combining
to lose
about a
half-million
dollars
in
salary
and
Stewart
being
bloodied
up,
nobody
has come
away
with a
worse
fate
than
Morris.
He can’t
play and
the Heat
have
missed
him.
By the
time the
Nuggets
visit
the Heat
on
Monday,
Morris’
absence
will be
up to 11
games.
And
counting.
It could
be a
circus
Monday
night in
Miami,
which,
of
course,
is
exactly
what the
NBA does
not
want.
Jokic’s
two
brothers
have
tickets
to the
game.
They’re
quite
recognizable
and
easily
excitable,
as
evidenced
by some
of their
past
antics
during
games.
Their
infamous
Twitter
account
was
short-lived,
and it’s
reasonable
to say
the
league
didn’t
find the
war of
words
entertaining
between
the
Jokic
brothers
and
Markieff
Morris’
twin
brother
Marcus
Morris
of the
Los
Angeles
Clippers.
And
don’t
forget
that
Heat
forward
Jimmy
Butler
was
fined
and,
according
to the
Denver
Post,
yelled
down the
hallway
separating
the two
locker
rooms
postgame
to tell
Nuggets
players
that
they
know
where
Miami’s
bus was
parked,
presumably
in case
anybody
wanted
to stop
by and
discuss
matters
further.
The NBA
cannot
be happy
that
there’s
going to
be so
much
attention
on those
two
games,
because
that
attention
is there
for the
wrong
reasons.
The
league
also
can’t be
happy
that the
incident
in
Detroit
on
Sunday
night
drew
obvious
parallels
to the
infamous
“Malice
at the
Palace”
melee in
Auburn
Hills,
Michigan
in 2004,
when a
cup was
tossed
from the
stands
and
triggered
perhaps
the
worst
brawl in
U.S.
sports
history
when
members
of the
Pistons
and
Indiana
Pacers
went
into the
crowd.
James
won’t
like the
suspension,
nor will
the
Lakers.
And it
could be
argued
he
didn’t
necessarily
deserve
one,
either.
The NBA
is
sending
a
message,
not to
James,
but to
the
whole
league.
This
needs to
end now.
___
Tim
Reynolds
is a
national
basketball
writer
for The
Associated
Press.
Write to
him at
treynolds(at)ap.org
___
More AP
NBA:
https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
and
https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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