NBA sends message by benching Songaila
Posted May 2nd, 2008 by bwindhorst
Of all the hits in this series, it is surprising that the one Darius Songaila gave to LeBron James in Game 5 was the one that earned a suspension. Eddie Jordan maintained that not only was the hit accidental, but that LeBron embellished the contact. As Jordan said yesterday: “I thought he got tangled up with LeBron and LeBron tried to get untangled and in his method of getting untangled, Darius’s arm flew up and at his chest. And LeBron’s a terrific actor. We’ve all seen his commercials.”
But here is the thing, it was obvious that Songaila hit James in the face and it happened after a play, there was no ball to go after. Secondly, and this is most important, it seems pretty clear that the NBA warned the Wizards, and maybe the Cavs, that it wanted no more funny business after Game 4. A couple people told me the NBA thought long and hard about whether to suspend DeShawn Stevenson after his flagrant foul because of all the hard hitting in the series. Songaila’s hit was apparently the final straw, even if it wasn’t as severe as the others.
The Wizards have fairly stated their point that fouling hard is part of the playoffs. The Cavs have fairly argued that LeBron has to be protected. At the end of the day, he’s a superstar and he keeps getting hit in the head and the NBA wanted to put a stop to it.
From what I hear, the Wizards didn’t hear until after shootaround and they were upset they didn’t find out until a day and a half after the incident so they couldn’t prepare.
The Cavs surely would’ve preferred Brendan Haywood or Stevenson to get suspended but Songaila’s suspension hits the Wizards’ depth and their rebounding ability. They are already thin on the front line and Songalia was playing a lot of backup center. So I suspect Andray Blatche will get a lot more playing time tonight. There is a chance Jordan may have to play rookie Dominic McGuire, who hasn’t played a meaningful minute in the series, a little. Both Blatche and Haywood are foul prone, so expect the Cavs to force the issue with Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Blatche has not handled Z well.
Also, at shootaround, it seemed like there was an excellent chance Sasha Pavlovic would get minutes tonight. I expect a tighter leash on Wally Szczerbiak.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Tighter leash?
Why is the loser out there at all? What does he provide? If you want to spread the floor and make some 3s put Damon Jones in. If you want a bigger defensive presence put Devin Brown or Sasha Pavlovic in.
He gets continously burned on defense and I am so sick of his “catch-and-brick” offense.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Wally looked absolutely lost in Game 5. It was beyond pathetic. The missed layup was the final straw. Brown’s insistence on playing him has been a little strange, to say the least, but why he wasn’t yanked from the game right then and there says a lot about the (lack of) coaching on the team. How many times did he turn the ball over in the open court? It’s horrifying. Sasha isn’t exactly Pistol Pete in the ball handling and dribbling category, either, but Wally’s play was nauseating.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
“it seemed like there was an excellent chance Sasha Pavlovic would get minutes tonight.”
God help us. This is supposed to be good news?
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
If I were Jordan, I’d go straight for the two weakest of the Cavs’ weak links and fluster the hell out of Brown. Ilgauskas is absolutely horrible whenever he’s double-teamed, and Brown yanks Wallace whenever there’s the Hack-A-Ben. So Jordan should do both at the same time right out of the gate. Brown would be so shell-shocked and have his rotation so out of whack, by the end of the first quarter he’d have Pavlovic at center and Szczerbiak at power forward.
By the way, why in the hell did it take Jackson so long to issue this suspension? Was his Betamax broken? Unlikely. Seems kinda unprofessional, intentionally delaying before he stuck it to the Wizards.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
This always bothers me, is it “songaLIa” or “songaILa”. In this post Brian spells it the first way but his wikipedia and ESPN pages have it spelled the second. I’ve noticed that some announcers pronounce it the first but most pronounce it the second. What’s the deal?
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Brian,
As you stated, you’d think that the Cavs would use Z to attack the foul-prone Haywood down low, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cavs fail to do so. During the 4th quarter of Game 5, with Haywood on the bench and the Cavs on top by a slim margin and needing to string together good offensive possessions, Songalia guarded Z on the blocks for about 4-5 minutes. Standing next to each other, Z absolutely TOWERS over Songalia. Let’s count the number of times the Cavs exploited this matchup. Better yet, let’s count the number of times the Cavs attempted to exploit this matchup by looking to Z down low.
Answer: You won’t need any fingers or toes. It was zero.
Mike Brown seems intent on foregoing even the most fundamental concept of taking advantage of matchups. Let’s not even mention his substitution patterns. Wally, who had at least 3 turnovers in the six minutes and who has been a liability at BOTH the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, keeps getting substantial minutes. Despite the late-season injuries, Mike Brown has had ample opportunity to find productive player rotations. Instead, he has doggedly stuck to the Z/Big Ben/West and Smith/Andy/Boobie rotations. Shake it up Mike!
To our advantage, the Bullets…er…Wiz have the same confounding lack of consistency as the Cavs. The lack of consistency is such a big factor that I think it even counters Mike Brown’s laughable offensive sets and substitution patterns. Go Cavs! I’m trying hard to be a fan.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Sasha baby— 24-7 when he started last year. Send the punk Wizards home tonight and get ready to take down KG the choke artist and Paul Pierce the thug
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
JBJB Says:
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
“it seemed like there was an excellent chance Sasha Pavlovic would get minutes tonight.”
God help us. This is supposed to be good news?
Have you been watching Wally and Devin?, Sasha can’t be any worse, plus is a better defender than both.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
what a stupid suspension. stu jackson is a dolt. stevenson and haywood have done much worse and this is the hit that gets a game suspension. what a joke the nba is becoming. it’s bad enough when officials swallow the whistle for star players but now they mindlessly legislate after the fact.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Wally seems like a nice enough fellow but he’s embarrassing himself out there. Caron Butler knows Wally can’t defend him..that missed open layup brought back memories of David Wesley.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
John
Well, I cant argue with that, although I would persoannly like to see a lot more D. Brown and D. Gibson than Wally. However, I am not sure if I can bear to watch Sasha dribble the ball off his foot 6 times or clunk up wide open 17 footers.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
ok -
have to post on here after seeing the cleveland comments.
the 2 things that piss me off about the suspension are:
1 - the timing. as someone else pointed out, it did not have to be so late.
2 - the intention or lack of intention on songalia’s part will never be known- looking at the video, it still just comes down to whether you’re a cavs fan or a wiz fan. i just can’t be objective. but the referees should have stepped in earlier - thrown stevenson out of the game after his foul (he did get ball first, but still i can’t defend that one) and called lebron’s elbow to blatche a tech on the spot instead of quietly, under the radar, 4 days later.
the inconsistency is awful for the league and both teams, really, because now it seems like enforcement is arbitrary, which allows both fanbases to complain.
i’m hope to god tonight’s game is not marred by an incident.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
[...] bwindhorst wrote an interesting post today on NBA sends message by benching SongaliaHere’s a quick excerptSecondly, and this is most important, it seems pretty clear that the NBA warned the Wizards, and maybe the Cavs, that it wanted no more funny business after Game 4. A couple people told me the NBA thought long and hard about whether to … [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Michele, you’re right. I would even dare to say that Szczerbiak’s performance was Jiri Welsch-like.
And Anderson Varejao is bringing back memories of Jay Guidinger.
As far as Songalia’s suspension goes….yeah, it was late, but I don’t care. The Wizards are punk misfit thugs and don’t deserve to win this series anyway. Our great city has been deprived of a championship for so long, I’m all for anything that gives us advantage — fair or not. I know that may not be the “right thing”, but I don’t care. I want a title at any cost.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
JBJB,
I know, it has been painful watching Sasha this year. I keep thinking he will revert back to last year, when he was playing at a better level. He never has got his game going this year, with the holdout and injuries. I am all for seeing more of Gibson, but Mike Brown should have a short hook on Wally, Devin, Sasha, and go with whoever is hot, hopefully one of them will step up along with Gibson.
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Well…….the Cavs have extended yet another season with razor thin talent on the floor and NO coaching from the bench.
Beware tonight…..at the slightest provocation a T with an ejection is coming, followed by the suspension.
Should win tonight with Washington’s thinning bench. Will need LeBron to drive the hole, and then get back to defend. Get someone else on the floor to shoot the 3’s. Of course that takes coaching, and the Cavs have none.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Look at Lebron’s arm in the video. He clearly pulls Songaila’s arm up and his hand into his face. Songaila clearly had no intent to hit Lebron, regardless of any other hard hit in the series. It is outright idiotic to suspend him for this.