The moment James Harden crumpled following Metta World Peace’s vicious elbow, it was clear the Lakers’ forward would be suspended. The announcers called it, and everyone watching at home knew a ban was coming. After all, the shot occurred without the ball anywhere in sight and was administered by a player who has been repeatedly disciplined before. Justice was coming. The only question was how severe it would be.
Unlike the National Hockey League which typically doles out at least one suspension a week, the National Basketball Association has far less history to use as guidelines for figuring out how many games a player’s actions should cost him. Thus, abhorrent on-court behavior often sparks a wide range of opinions about the merits of suspensions in the rare cases they do happen. In the past few days, I’ve heard a team of talking heads predict everything from two games to twenty games. After much deliberation, the final answer is seven.
Go ahead and take a look at footage of the elbow below…
World Peace has since claimed what happened was a complete accident. He argues he was mid-celebration and simply flailing his arms. The video evidence certainly doesn’t seem to support that, but regardless of the intent or not, Harden remains sidelined for an indefinite period of time with a concussion and World Peace will miss the last regular season game and the first six of the playoffs.
I think he should have been given more, but I want to know your thoughts. How long should he have been suspended for? Sound off by voting in the poll below…
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