From: davidy@sumax.seattleu.edu (Stimpson J. Cat)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Phx/Seattle
Date: 16 Apr 92 02:05:56 GMT
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle WA

In article <1992Apr15.171122.14451@ennews.eas.asu.edu> koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Harry Koehnemann) writes:

>This will be the best first round game after watching last nights action.
>I only saw the second half, but I guess there were some words exchanged
>between at least KJ and someone.  The Suns were up by 28 in the middle
>of the 3rd when the refs decided it was time to go home.  It was a
>mistake.  There was so much banging going on - it was really ugly.  It
>caome to a point when Ceballos took a "pass"?? off the backboard from
>Burtt (he'll call it a pass anyways) and went to lay it up.  Ceballos
>is pretty quick so when Kemp came over to challange he was way late.
>The shot went in and Kemp's elbow went into Ceballos face and the follow
>through pushed him to the floor - no call.  Ceballos is laying on the
>ground for the next couple minutes and everybodys pissed.

	This is true. It will be hard for the Sonics to live up to their half
of the bargain, as they must finish ahead of San Antonio to meet the Suns. 
Probably this means Seattle will have to beat Golden State at GS, which would
not be easy. If they could, then this would be a great matchup- plenty of
hate between the teams, plenty of live bodies flying around.
>
>Then with about 3 minutes left some guy for Seattle is breaking for a
>layup after a steal and Dan Majerle (best player in the NBA) tries to
>block it.  He's late too hitting the guy on the shoulder before he could
>get the shot off.  The guy goes down hard and starts coming at Dan (yea
>right).  Majerle's *thrown out of the game*.  Shit, he had a decent
>shot at the ball and it probably would have been a simple foul had the
>guy not landed hard (uncoordinated bastard).

	I can't agree with this. I was looking for a smiley, but it wasn't
there. As noted, the Seattle player (Bart Kofoed) was breaking for the layup.
He was ahead of Majerle. Majerle tried to block the shot coming across
Kofoed's body. Majerle is a excellent leaper but he doesn't have long arms.
There is very little chance even he can block a shot, with both men in the air,
coming all the way across the other player's body. He didn't have a decent
shot at the ball. Let us see. Kofoed is called a uncoordinated bastard. Hmm.
Majerle fell hard and got a cut on his head. Does that make him a extra-
uncoordinated bastard?
	Basically Majerle plowed into the guy mid-air at full speed. To say
it was Kofoed's fault he crashed to the floor is ludicrous. The game was
badly officiated. Too many people went down. Of course, no mention was made
of the fact Andrew Lang threw Ricky Pierce to the floor after he made a basket
, with the Sonics getting four consecutive offense rebounds. Then again, I
need to mention Kevin Johnson got tossed to the floor on a drive with no call.
These kinds of poor calls are what led to potential injury. This epitomizes
a badly officiated game.
	I don't begrudge Majerle's hard foul, he is a tough player and the
bad officiating inflamed passions to an extent a lot of bad stuff was bound
to happen. But I think you would have to have seen the whole game to appreciate
this. I believe the benches emptied three times during this game. Again, I
was looking for a smiley on that above fragment, but if it never existed then
I would have to say Cedric Ceballos got what he deserved. If a person is going
to make bad calls the least one can do is make them both ways. (Personally
I believe Ceballos was fouled, the replays showed that clearly.)
	What is inexplicable to me is why Dan Majerle was playing with 1:58
to go with the Suns holding a 20+ point lead. I don't get it at all. Cotton did
this in a similar Suns triunph three months ago, leaving KJ and Majerle in
the last minutes of a Sun blowout. Why? Was Cotton trying to rub it in? Maybe.
But is it worth risking injury to a vital player on your team? Hornacek was
not pulled till 2-3 minutes to go, either. Suppose Majerle had gotten a 
concussion or hurt his neck when he fell on the block attempt. Is that worth
it? In the past, I have felt the Suns have had bad luck in the playoffs 
because of injuries (2 years ago, KJ, last year Majerle and KJ.) But, if
Cotton's philosophy is to play his vital players into the last seconds of
a blowout, then maybe it isn't bad luck at all. If Majerle is burned out by
playoff time, maybe Cotton better take a look in the mirror to figure out
why, assuming this is standard practice for the Suns (which I don't know, 
and am not claiming, is the case.) 
>
>Anyways, should set up an interesting first round.  Majerle was player
>of the game - 17 pts in the 2nd (3-3 3s) when the game got blown out.
>Best player in the NBA, hands down.
>--
>Harry Koehnemann
>koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu


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