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The Suns cruised to a surprisingly easy win over the Pistons, but it wasn't all fun and games. Shaquille O'Neal was ejected in the second quarter after the referees ruled that this take down of Rodney Stuckey was a foul of the flagrant two variety.
The rule book states that for a flagrant two to be called, the contact has to be both unnecessary and excessive. It was a hard foul, but I don't know how excessive it was. I think a flagrant one was in order, sure. But to me, that wasn't the type of foul that deserved the automatic ejection.
After the jump, referee Ken Mauer explains the reasoning behind the call.
"We got together and we felt -- first of all, a flagrant two has to have a wind-up and a follow through and be not only unnecessary, but we feel it's excessive," Mauer said. "We thought it followed all three of those. We felt he winded up. He hit him. He then pulled him down, that's the follow through. We felt after reviewing it that it was more than necessary. We felt it was excessive."
"Now, when we went to the table (we called it a flagrant two on the floor which allows us to go over and review) and then when the three of us reviewed the play, we all agreed that we would uphold the flagrant two. And it goes into the league and they do whatever."
The "whatever" Mauer's referring to is the fact that the league could uphold the call, downgrade it to a flagrant one, or decide it was so egregious that in addition to the automatic ejection, a suspension is warranted. I don't even think this should have resulted in the ejection, so obviously I think a suspension would be completely over the top here. But the way the Suns have been treated by the league lately, I'm sure they'll be holding their breath while they await word from the commissioner's office.
Video: Shaq Ejected for Flagrant Foul on Rodney Stuckey
Nov 17, 2008 – 12:25 AM
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