This homer in Michigan argues for Shaq being suspended after this foul on Stuckey.

Here's my open letter in reply to this all over the map screed.

My man you are all over the map with this one.

I am NOT a Shaq fan and hated the trade but this was not a Flagrant 2 foul. He had both hands up going for the ball. Stuckey - as he always does - threw himself at the rim and Shaq threw himself at the ball.

I rarely agree with Shaq but this one was about the size difference between the two and Stuckey's flopping around like a fish (before popping back up and shooting his throws).

If he hit his head as hard as he pretended then he would have a gash or at least a lump. Show me the lump!

[Note by ZonaFlash, 11/18/08 7:34 PM EST ]

Sorry, couldn't resist the reference!  =)

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 11/19/08 9:20 AM PST ]

The author of the post on MLive responded:

I agree Stuckey did his part to sell it, and he definitely did not hit his head on the ground. Honestly, I could really care less about Shaq, I've never really liked or hated the guy.

Maybe it was a legit play on the ball, only Shaq really knows. But compounded with the fact that he was pissed at a call just a few seconds ago at the other end, I don't know, there could have been some premeditation involved, which is why I think the refs, who watched a replay, all seemed pretty adamant that it was a flagrant 2. It just seems like this guy gets the benefit of the doubt way too much, as I was pointing out in that post.

I would not have any problem with this if the NBA always was lenient and looked at things fairly, but I think the opposite is true. They tend to always side with what is called, or even change called flagrant 1s to flagrant 2s after review by the league office. I believe that, if this wasn't Shaq and say, Kenyon Martin, who has a reputation for flagrants,  he is not going to get a fair look from the league and is probably suspended.

Nash got a one game suspension for "escalating" the Houston/Phoenix incident, when all he really did was hop around and get held back by someone. Shaq pushed three guys and only got a $25,000 fine. Who really escalated that incident more?

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 11/19/08 10:48 AM PST ]

This is barely worth the effort...but the Michigan Live guy has declared a blog fight. I think he's just cold up there and looking for something to do.

This imagery is cool though:

via blog.mlive.com