James Harden kicked LeBron James in his special place, and now he’s going to pay.
The league suspended Harden following the Houston Rockets’ overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night for kicking LeBron in the king jewels. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports has the confirmation:
Rockets James Harden suspended 1 game by NBA without pay for kicking Cavs LeBron James during game on March 1. Link: http://t.co/5tezhPbFZv
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) March 2, 2015
Video of the incident can be seen below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfYXkSAW1LM
A few things.
First, ouch. No matter how little force is used, getting forcibly kicked or punched or headbutted or hip-checked or kneed or flicked or karate chopped in that area hurts. It freaking hurts. God did not intend for people to do vicious things around that region. He just didn’t.
Secondly, though, a suspension? Really? Jeez.
What Harden did was clearly intentional, but again, he wasn’t pounding on LeBron’s happy place until there were tears in his eyes. Sure, it probably hurt. But LeBron wasn’t exactly howling in pain. He was pissed, without question, yet he was irate while standing and walking around, without ever really keeling over or favoring the area in conspicuous torment.
There was also a lot of contact on this play. Harden was being swarmed by the Cavaliers’ defenders, and he himself was clearly pissed. That doesn’t justify what he did, but it seemed like the referees got the call right, assessing him a Flagrant 1 at the time. Upgrading it to a Flagrant 2, forcing him to miss an entire game, feels excessive.
Which brings us to the final point: This one game.
The Rockets play the league-lording Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, the contest Harden will miss. They’re already without Dwight Howard and clinging to third place in the Western Conference, so this is huge.
Harden has been playing like a man alive, solidifying his MVP case while ensuring the Rockets seldom miss a beat without his superstar sidekick. This impending loss—since they are, in fact, going to lose on Tuesday night—could come back to nip them in the bud when playoff seeding is on the line.
It might not, but it could. And with all the Rockets have gone through this season—right down to losing two of their top-four scorers from last year over the summer (Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons)—every loss, every risk that puts their current playoff seed in harm’s way, is huge.
So you have to wonder if Harden’s little charade, which was obviously unnecessary, was worth it.
And then, knowing what’s at stake, understanding the circumstances under which this happened and how it unfolded, you also have to wonder if the NBA overreacted.
