Rajon Rondo has just been suspended for excessive passion, and caring about the outcome of an NBA game. If you didn't see The Celtics Game 1 against Atlanta, toward the end of the 4th quarter referee Marc Davis awarded a questionable foul call in the Hawks favor when it seemed that a jump ball might have been the better call.
I don't really want to debate the merit of the specific call, as much as the NBA's reaction to Rondo. The call was close, could have gone either way, thus the anger and heat of the moment reaction from Rondo. First he got in Davis' face, presumably using some naughty language which earned him technical foul number one. Upon receiving the first technical Rondo's mood escalated leading him to lightly chest bump into Davis, at which point Davis did every refs favorite move, the over enthusiastic "you're out of here" point/maneuver.
Davis was in the heat of the moment just like Rondo, so I blame him a little less than the NBA in this whole scenario, but all the same I think the job of the ref is to have a cool head especially when the players don't. In a league where lack of passion, effort, and enthusiasm is the main gripe from detractors, why are we punishing a competitor like Rondo for losing it a little bit during a big time playoff game? Shouldn't we want this, don't we all long for the golden days of the bad-boy pistons, or Jordan's relentless intensity, or the hate fueled Celtics-Lakers rivalries of the 80's?
Davis may have been obligated to toss Rondo for making contact with him, so really this comes down to the way the league deals with such issues. Not only did Rondo get tossed from a big game, but now the league punishes him, his team, and all NBA fans by suspending him for game 2. And for what? I know the league feels a necessity to protect officials, but unless Davis is secretly a Faberge Egg, he wasn't in too much danger from Rondo's chest graze.
Adding to the insult here is the indignation the league acts with as if refs are absolutely beyond question, and forever without fault. This is the same league that not long ago had an official betting on games that he was reffing. Ref Joey Crawford once ejected Tim Duncan from a game for smiling and laughing at a bad call from the sideline. Excuse Rondo and the rest of us for daring to challenge the holy brotherhood of NBA officiating.
The larger point here is that a little common sense would go a long way. If Rondo reared backed and Metta World Peace'd Davis in the back of the head then of course a suspension would be warranted. But a snap reaction that resulted in nothing more than some profanity and minimal chest bump does not a suspension warrant. There's a pretty obvious line between a guy getting excited over a call, and losing his mind and becoming a danger to others.
In other Words, David Stern, passion is good, violence is bad, and the difference is fairly obvious.
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