Jason Richardson Evades Suspension For Game 5

Jason Richardson will not be suspended for the clothesline he delivered Okur late in the 4th quarter of Game 4, which earned him a flagrant foul penalty 2. Which means Jason Richardson will be available as the Warriors try to stay alive in Utah.

If J-Rich won't be suspended, then Robert Horry shouldn't be suspended too!

Not really. Especially after the fact that Horry's hands were 200 feet away from the ball with the whole force from his body weight directed towards the left side of Nash's body (he was dribbling with his right hand); and the medium for measuring a player's intention of "going for the ball" is with his hands. You can't "go for the ball" with your head, lest with your chest. I was expecting the league to go a little harder on Jason Richardson, but I guess it was seen as a hard foul, nothing more.

Here's what J-Rich had to say: "It's a hard foul, it wasn't a dirty play. I didn't try to take his legs out, I didn't try to kick him in the head. I went for the ball. That's part of basketball. It's a hard foul."

However, Baron Davis is still under review for that cheap shot he delivered Fisher. After reviewing the video a couple of times, I would have to say that Fisher did flop a bit and overacted on the whole staying-on-the-floor thing and holding-the-temple as he got up slowly. Here's the video:

When I watched the game on television, there was an angle from in front of the altercation. Sadly, this is the only video I could find, with the angle from behind. Even so, it looks like Baron just shoved Fisher off. Even if his elbow did hit Fisher, would it hurt that much considering the angle from which Baron's arm had to bend and contort had he supposedly hit Fisher directly on the spot he was holding on to while he was on the floor?

Here's what Baron had to say for himself: "We just laughed about it, I told him to stop flopping. He laughed. He said he knew I didn't do it on purpose; even if I did, I didn't mean to. But I didn't do that on purpose, I didn't know that he was really right there."

This incident reminds me of the Jason Terry take-down on Baron Davis in Game 5 of the 1st round series. Baron flopped a bit and lay on the floor holding his head for a short while. Fisher was a better actor this time and kept the act on for much longer.

If Jason Richardson is not suspended for that hard foul, then Stoudemire and Diaw shouldn't be suspended either given the fact that they were harmless. I'm sure David Stern wouldn't want a classic playoff-series ruined by suspending players for stepping on the court on his conscience. Sure, it's in the rule book to automatically suspend any player under that situation, but I think Stern is going to let this one go and "believe" the Suns' excuse that they were sending Stoudemire to the officials' table to check in the game so as not to promote the "bending of rules".

Very sly D'Antoni, very sly indeed.