Who Are We Kidding: The Seven Technicals Rule Solves Nothing

Steve Nash lay on his back after flailing head-on into the scorer’s table.

He’d just received a borderline cheap shot from San Antonio’s Robert Horry. The malicious foul caused a mini-scuffle, as the Phoenix bench charged to the scene, looking to aide their MVP point guard.

In the process of defending their teammate, Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw made the grave mistake of stepping over a thin strip of paint.

By doing so, they broke a set in stone rule. Players on the sidelines cannot leave the bench area. Stoudemire and Diaw both received one game suspensions, which wouldn’t ignite a riot under most circumstances.

But when they had to sit out game five of a passionate, competitive, dead-locked Western Conference Finals, NBA followers cried foul.

San Antonio won the game, the series, and the title that year.

The Suns stole the momentum right before Nash went crashing into an NBA on ABC ad.

Phoenix had evened the series on the Spurs home court.
 
Stoudemire and Diaw, two of Phoenix’s top six players, didn’t raise a hand to anyone. They were simply two concerned men, trying to help their buddy, in the middle of a testosterone fueled series.
 
They stepped over a line. It’s a wonder they didn’t have to appear before a grand jury, too.

Commissioner David Stern dropped the ball by suspending two key players involved in a minor brouhaha during the ’07 Western Conference Finals. He took tremendous heat for not doing the right thing. Stern should have thrown out the goofy rule that inexplicably altered a great battle between two spectacular teams.

With so much on the line, the league office would rather stay out of the way whenever possible.
 
Fast forward to Wednesday night. Kendrick Perkins, the best low post defender Boston can throw at Dwight Howard, picked up his dreaded seventh technical of this postseason. Seven is an unlucky number in this case. By strict rule, Perkins has to sit out game six in Boston on Friday night.
 
It took the NBA think-tank about fifteen seconds to rescind one of those T’s. Perkins will suit up as the Celtics hope to clinch the series at home.
 
Was there ever a doubt?

What was the NBA trying to accomplish when they implemented this rule? They’ve already made steps in the right direction with the dress code. The association’s biggest superstars, like Bryant, Wade, James, and Nash, represent the game well. There’s no image crisis in basketball.

The technical rule sheds too much light on an issue that shouldn’t require discussion.
 
Fans still recognize if player X has wracked up a fair share of whistles. Basketball followers are an observant bunch. They know who the barkers, whiners, and complainers are.
  There’s no value in suspending players with so much at stake. Use the seven technical mark in some other capacity.

Fine the culprit $100,000.

Have him film five PSA’s stressing the importance of good sportsmanship.

Make the guy clean a section of the arena after the game. But don’t cheapen the playoffs by forcing players to sit.

The rules committee scrambled to find an out for Perkins.

Let’s get real. Front office officials let Kendrick slide partly because the two techs he picked up in game five were so questionable.

But the power forward could have spit on Jameer Nelson and kicked J.J. Reddick and the committee still would find a way to cut his postseason total.

You’re telling me Stern’s people would stand by as a banged up Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace went body to body with Howard in the biggest game of the season? Never in a million years.
 
The fans don’t want that. The league doesn’t want that. And the Boston Celtics certainly don’t want that.

If Orlando does the unthinkable, and takes the series after falling into a three game deficit, there won’t be any dark clouds surrounding their feat. There’s no, “Yeah, but” factor hanging in the balance.

If Davis can’t go, that’s just a variable associated with physical basketball. Injuries happen. But if Perkins was a spectator on Friday night, NBA decision makers would face harsh criticism as being “gutless” or “cowards.”

We’ve been through this rodeo before with Kobe Bryant. While Bryant’s rebuilt his nice guy persona, number 24 still has plenty to talk about with the refs.

Kobe crept closer and closer to the technical/suspension threshold last spring. League officials were no doubt analyzing the tape on each violation, looking for every facial tic, stray profanity, or confrontation that could absolve Bryant from one of his mistakes.

They’d be crazy to dilute a huge playoff game in causing one of the game’s best players, and biggest names, to stay away. Perkins doesn’t have that type of reputation around the league. But Kendrick’s presence, or lack thereof, shifts the dynamic of the Orlando-Boston showdown.

If Brian Scalabrine or DJ Mbenga picked up seven technicals, and drew a one game suspension, no one would bat an eye. Those guys don’t change games. Perkins can.
 
And so can anyone else whistled at this late stage in the NBA postseason.

This puzzling rule really affects the playmakers. And why bother with the sanction if it’s manipulated at every opportunity?
 
There’d be an outpouring of anger if Bryant, Rondo, Nash, or Howard couldn’t compete. Detractors would criticize the league for sticking their nose where it didn’t belong.

Technical fouls hurt the sport. But shunning some of the league’s most important players when every game means so much.

That’s simply unacceptable.