Quote Originally Posted by LatinLover711:



YOU'RE FROM AZ AND DON'T LIKE THE SUNS TONIGHT

Repeat performances are very hard to do on back to back nights.

Flawless game by the Suns last night. Not so good tonight vs the Jazz

A depleted Bucks team covered against the Celts on Sat.

 Injuries and playing at home vs a team playing on a B2B are kinda even, that explains the -2 spread.

Also the Suns sparkplug  Barbosa is out with the death of his mother and Shaq (if not suspended) might not play anyway. It's pretty even IMO, that's why I roll with the home team.

Seven suspensions or less?

With Steve Nash back from his one-game suspension and Matt Barnes completing his two-game sentence Sunday night, the Suns might have a new worry after Shaquille O’Neal’s flagrant 2 foul on Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey and ejection in the second quarter of Sunday’s win over the Pistons.

SLIDESHOW: Suns vs. Pistons

Suns find right mix vs. Pistons

With the Suns leading 48-33 and in the midst of a dominant quarter, O’Neal went up aggressively to block Stuckey’s drive to the basket with both hands. The two players collided and Stuckey landed chest-first and face-second on the floor. He remained prone on the court while officials — referee Ken Mauer called a flagrant 2 foul initially — watched video of the play and upheld the decision.

“We got together and felt — first of all, a flagrant 2 had to have a windup and follow-through (motion) and not only be unnecessary, but we feel it’s excessive,” Mauer told a pool reporter after the game. “We thought it followed all three of those. We felt he winded up. He hit him. Then he pulled him down — that’s a follow-through. We felt after reviewing it that it was more than necessary. We felt it was excessive.

“(Now) it goes to the league, and they do whatever.”

O’Neal, who was fined $35,000 for his role in the skirmish with Houston on Wednesday that resulted in suspensions to Nash and Barnes, said he was going for the ball and didn’t do anything that should result in further action by the league.

And he used everything short of props and an overhead projector to state his case.

“The laws of physics state that a body in motion stays in motion,” O’Neal theorized.

“And if you have two objects that meet in the air, the smaller object is going to fall much harder at the same rate of speed it was going.”

Professor O’Neal then tried laymen’s terms. “I’ve never been the type of player to take anyone out. I was going for the ball. (Stuckey) fell, and he added a little bit at the end.

The referees looked at how he fell, I think. Any time you come in there out of control like that and you run into a brick wall, you’re going to get that effect.”

Suns coach Terry Porter concurred. “Not to downplay what happened, the young man got hit pretty hard … (but) sometimes in those situations, the fall may look worse than the contact was.”

It's closing time in New York City, home to the NBA offices, and the Suns have not heard anything regarding any additional sanctions on Shaquille O'Neal. Apparently, O'Neal will be back on the court tonight in Utah. The Nash/Barnes suspensions came down before 2 p.m. EST that day.

O'Neal could wind up with a fine for not leaving the court but it didn't seem like that his behavior would warrant a suspension. He never touched Ken Mauer and really wasn't out there that long, thanks to Uncle Jerome (Crawford, Shaq's security).

Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett has been suspended for one game and Phoenix center Shaquille O’Neal has been fined $25,000 for separate incidents over the weekend.

Garnett was penalized for hitting Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut in the face near the end of Saturday’s game. Garnett will sit out Tuesday night when the Celtics host the New York Knicks.

O’Neal was fined for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court quickly after being ejected Sunday night against Detroit.

The NBA issued the penalties Monday.