Neither Odom or Bynum remorseful

Amazingly, neither Odom or Bynum expressed any remorse for their actions yesterday. This is an excerpt from a piece in today's Dallas Morning News. Can't believe Odom's comment of "When you're losing by 30 what the f**k do you expect?" What an idiot. You expect sportsmanship, that's what you expect. And Bynum is "not disappointed" in himself. Incredible:


Los Angeles Lakers stars Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom watched the final eight minutes of a 122-86 loss in the visitor's locker room at American Airlines Center Sunday afternoon. The two were ejected about a minute apart for flagrant fouls in the final quarter of the series-clinching victory for the Dallas Mavericks.

The frustration of being down by more than 20 and sitting on the verge of a Western Conference semifinals sweep was too much to handle for the two big men.

Odom's ejection came after he blindsided Dirk Nowitzki on a screen. Bynum quickly followed with a much dirtier forearm hit to the chest of a defenseless J.J. Barea, who was gliding through the air on a layup attempt.

"I wasn't surprised," Odom said of his teammate's ejection. "When you're losing by 30, what the (expletive) do you expect?"

Added Bynum: "I'm not disappointed in myself. It is what it is. We got embarrassed tonight, so that's what happened."

Even though they weren't remorseful, Lakers coach Phil Jackson and superstar Kobe Bryant expressed their shame for the way the fourth quarter got out of hand.

"I wasn't happy with the way our players exited the game," Jackson said. "It was unnecessary."

"You don't want to see that," Bryant added. "You don't want any of their players getting hurt."

Well, as easy as it would be to torch the Lakers, Bynum, Odom and Phil here, when we ran up a 40 point lead on them in '08, I don't remember them reacting this way.

When your whole, under the floodlight season has been geared toward winning a 4th 3-Peat for Phil and to have Dallas pull the carpet out from under you in 2nd Round of all places, an mind you this is Dallas, the current Minnesota Vikings of the NBA, the Kings of bowing out early and snapping like a toothpick to the slightest of playoff challenges or pressure, you're going to be po'ed.

I excused/defended LeBron for not shaking hands because it really didn't hurt anyone. Odom's pick was moving, shoulder lowered and intentional. Clearly a Flagrant II plus ejection. (BTW, do FII and ejection go hand in hand or can they be separated?) We've seen picks like that before. It may have been payback for something Dirk had said to Odom while he was bricking his free throws earlier, but Bynum's was clearly out of character. The league will review and act accordingly. Will probably send a message ala Ron Artest given that the game was over at that point and it was completely unnecessary, could have easily been avoided and could have broken Berea's ribcage. Ruling should/better come pretty quickly for the sake of the rest of this season's playoffs. Should also make it non-appealable, but that won't happen under CBA. At least a multiple/double digit game suspension going into next season will suffice.

Bynum will have to recover the same way Artest has through the seasons to mend his reputation now.

Players in general will react the same way LeBron did to the world's backlash and stake their ground when it pushes back at them for something deemed out of character. Sadly, don't expect remorse or even a hint of the fact they may have done something wrong. The bad and good news is millions of kids saw that behavior live and it will leave us parents with numerous great teaching moments if we so choose.

This could have happened to any team. The Lakers and the league will sort it all out. All we have to worry about here is tonight and leveling the series going back to MIA. Won't be easy. MIA wants to be Dallas II and complete the official changing of the guard. We'll have something to say about that. That we can control.

I thought the ejection of Odom was an overcall. Foul? Obviously. Flagrant? Perhaps, but I've seen as bad many, many times without an ejectiion and Odom's hit on Dirk was not one that was likely to hurt Dirk seriously. Dirk was jogging downcourt, both feet on the ground, and took a shoulder to the shoulder. I guess the ejection was the refs way of saying "this game/series is over, this is going to start getting ugly as players realize their seasons are over, we gotta head their frustrations off at the pass". His comments afterwards explains why he's married to a Kardashian. He has no sense of proportion or self-respect. What we expect, Lamar, is for you to act like a responsible professional and not like a spoiled, self-centered rich person.

Bynum's foul, on the other hand, was despicable. A much smaller player, vulnerable in the air, and Bynum clearly aimed his elbow into his unprotected ribs. Cracked ribs, falling down off balance and landing on his back, head or hip were all possibilities from the way 280# Bynum cheap shotted 175# Barea. Bynum should be suspended for multiple games for that. I'd give him another game or two suspension after that just for his lack of remorse. If a coach can get fined for mouthing off about the refs in a post-game interview, why shouldn't players who play dirty like Bynum not pay a price for at least saying the right things later. Bynum took his jersey off, while he was still on the floor but heading to the locker room. Nice try asshole, but we already know what uni you're wearing and what your name is.

Kudos to Kobe and even to Mr. Clothesline, Ron Artest, for showing some class after that and not ratcheting up the animus. It would have been easy for Ron-Ron to start throwing elbows too.

bob

.

Stay Classy LA.

i thought the ejection of Odom was appropriate and necessary for the refs to maintain reasonable control of the game.

yet it wasn't enough to staave off Bynam's incredible cheap shot. he's obviously not a quick study or one-trial learner - all he learned from Odom's ejection was that it's ok to lose your cool, not that if you do you're maybe gone.

hopefully penalties from the league will be quick and relatively harsh. there's no place for either play in the playoff's, or in any other game for that matter.

did LA as a team suffer a blow to their competitive image as a result of the two goons' fouls? i'm afraid so ... and that's too bad, since on the whole they're professional and don't deserve to be besmirched by the actions of the two - or three, if you count Artest (who was the better sport and teammate last night).

Michael

Hey, we got over the McHale clotheslining of Rambus that ushered all these current Flagrant Fouls in years ago. LA will get over the Odom/Bynum RibCage/Sternum incident. It's now forever a part of who we and LA are, hopefully a very small part.

This isn't Bynum's first errant elbow as he also collapsed Gerald Wallace's lung and broke a rib(s) with an errant elbow too.

celtic fan wrote:This isn't Bynum's first errant elbow as he also collapsed Gerald Wallace's lung and broke a rib(s) with an errant elbow too.

errant? what was errant about yesterday's elbow, CFan? (or maybe you were just being kind ... or something)

I guess it was kindness.
I thought death blow of doom may have been too heavy handed

dbrown4 wrote:Hey, we got over the McHale clotheslining of Rambus that ushered all these current Flagrant Fouls in years ago. LA will get over the Odom/Bynum RibCage/Sternum incident. It's now forever a part of who we and LA are, hopefully a very small part.

As bad as the McHale clothesline was - it was a MUCH different play.

a) Rambis was of equal size to McHale - not much of a physical mismatch
b) It was in the heat of battle - in a closely fought game / series
c) It was one of many questionable shots taken by both teams in that game and that series.

Bill Simmons wrote a great piece about this very incident / game.

• There were five different times during the game when players had to be separated. Dick Stockton even gave us the "You could feel this coming" after McHale's clothesline -- there was genuine antipathy in the air all game. Remember when it was okay to hate your opponents?
• Whenever Alcindor, Bird or Parish grabbed a rebound, they threw half-court outlet passes to jump-start fast breaks. A lost art these days.
• This was the quintessential Bird game -- struggling from outside, he rolled up his sleeves, moved down low, banged the boards and ended up with 29 points and 21 rebounds (plus the two biggest shots in OT). For the game-winner, he ended up with Magic on a switch, brought him down low, and dropped a turnaround in his mug. Remember, this was an off-night.
• In the fourth quarter, the C's played Bird, Maxwell, Parish and McHale at the same time, with Bird playing 2-guard next to DJ.
• Magic threw up a triple-double, (20-11-17), Worthy was unconscious (14-for-18 from the field), nobody could stop Kareem (31 points before fouling out) ... and the Lakers still lost.
• ML Carr sealed the deal by hawking an inbounds pass, then sprinting down for the insurance dunk in OT.
• Down by two in OT, 10 seconds to play, Worthy's at the line ... and he shortarms the first free throw. So Boston's Cedric Maxwell raises his arms, disdainfully walks from one side of the foul lane to the other, right in front of Worthy, and gives him the "Choke" sign with both hands. One of my all-time favorite Celtics moments. And it could never happen now -- Max would have been called for taunting.

Good memories. Especially the taunt by Cornbread.

You can't get away from playoff coverage each season without seeing the McHale clothesline at least 1,000 times.

Kobie acted with some class. Good for him.

I was looking for that Maxwell taunt on youtube a couple of months ago but could not find it. If anyone can please post.

Thanks

I'm with you bheck. That's why I asked if FII's and Ejections are separable. Didn't think Odom would have been tossed in any other game situation like that but given the status of that game and that series at that point, tossing him was the best idea at that time. The next thing that should have been done was immediately pulling the DAL starters off the court, one by one, starting with Dirk.

But this all led to the Bynum rib and lung crusher, so tossing Odom really didn't achieve what the refs were hoping for.

Also, unrelated, but what's the deal now with refs reviewing their own calls after games (CHI and ATL) and publicly stating they made a mistake?!! If the gag order applies to coaches and players, it certainly needs to apply to the refs as well. That may be the stupidest thing I have ever seen so far to date. We know these guys make mistakes. Are they now going to confess each and every bad call after each game? That could take forever. WTF!!

I think we can throw D.Wade in this conversation also. Not only has he been disdainful with his comments on what was at best a borderline dirty play, check out his reaction immediately after Rondo lands. He looks over his shoulder dismissively and continues to walk away with a "whatever" attitude while a peer, an all star, a competitor, a former teammate (olympic trials and all star game) and most importantly a FELLOW HUMAN BEING! is writhing and screaming in pain due in some part, big or small, of your actions. As much as I detest Lebron I think that Wade has just passed him in my book. His actions speak less to professsional competitiveness and more to human callousness and at least to me it spoke volumes about the man, even more so than the player that he is. How could any decent human being not react with some bit of concern to another who just suffered an injury of that magnitude. Forget the bright smile and cute little cell phone commercials, in my opinion Wade revealed a bit of his true character in not just his actions that caused the injury but in his reaction to the injury.

Yup "DWADE" is a selfish little me first shithead. I hope he gets hit and i mean i hope his teeth rattle. No remorse at all. Punk punk player on the all time punk ass team.

Know one but Wade knows if his trip/takedown of rondo was accidental or not, but if it was an accident why didn't he show the slightest concern toward the man. There have been few athletes that ever played who were more competitive or ferocious than Lawrence Taylor but on his infamous monday night sack of Joe Theisman he immediately got off of Joe and started to frantically wave for the redskins medical staff to come out, later ABC showed LT on the sidelines with tears in his eyes, overcome with emotion thinking of the terrible injury that he had inflicted even though it was a clean play and part of the game. Regardless if Wade's act was intentional or not this was a fellow professional seriously injured not 2 feet away from you. The more I think about this the more my blood boils and trust me it has nothing to do with the laundry I root for. Not that it matters to this piece of sub-human fecal matter but I have less than zero respect for him as a person or an athlete.

I'm sure Bynum got all kinds of pressure from the Laker organization to change his tune drastically from his ridiculous post-game comments ("I'm not disappointed in myself. It is what it is. We got embarrassed tonight, so that's what happened."):


Lakers' Bynum apologizes for foul on J.J. Barea
AP

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer – 1 hr 57 mins ago

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Lakers center Andrew Bynum has apologized profusely for his flagrant foul on Dallas guard J.J. Barea during Los Angeles' final playoff game.

Bynum suspects he'll be suspended to start next season.

Bynum was ejected for throwing a flying elbow at Barea during the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 36-point loss in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series last Sunday. Barea landed hard on the ground, and Bynum took off his jersey while leaving the court.

Bynum said Tuesday he regrets his classless exit from the playoffs. He says his actions were terrible and unacceptable, and they don't represent his upbringing or the Lakers' values.

Bynum was suspended for two games in March for a similarly hard foul on Minnesota's Michael Beasley.

Bynum suspended first five games of next season:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AuaM8ZAPdP_vsYwGk737NK68vLYF?slug=ap-lakers-bynumsuspended

Too little, too late for Bynum.

5 games for such a blatant attempt to injure another player..pffffft.

The 5 game suspension and fine for taking off his shirt will cost Bynum $949,247.99.
That was a very expensive elbow to Barea.

no that just tells us how outrageously paid some guys are.