NBA – This may be one of the turning points in recent NBA history. Did Robert Horry’s shoulder swipe at Steve Nash rob Mike D’Antoni’s Suns of a 2007 title?
Phoenix then travels to San Antonio for Game 4 of the conference semifinals. The Suns are in a delicate position: led 2-1 in the series, they are also 8 points at the start of the last quarter. But Amar’e Stoudemire and Steve Nash then pulled out all the stops to reverse the situation and head for victory. Robert Horry then decides to rewrite the current story, with his shoulder as a pen.
There are 30 seconds left to play. Phoenix leads 100-97 thanks to two genius assists from Steve Nash converted by the Stoud. In two minutes, the Spurs have just collected an 8-0 and they are at their worst.
Throw-in for Phoenix. There are 18 seconds left on the clock. Steve Nash rides the ball. San Antonio is expected to foul obviously. That’s what Robert Horry is about to do. Except that he freaks out and throws Steve Nash on the scorer’s table. A monstrous shoulder blow that sends him to the ground.
« Cheap shot Rob » pipe les dés
The entire Suns bench gets up. Steve Nash wants to stick one to Robert Horry. Raja Bell too. The referees manage to hold everyone, before expelling Horry and putting a technique on Bell. “It was hockey. It’s normal for me to react” explains the latter. Each team succeeds in its free throw. 101-98. The Suns recover possession and then three shots later, win 104-98 and regain home court advantage. For nothing.
The NBA decides to apply the rules to the letter: Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw got up from the bench and entered the field during the scuffle. They will be suspended for Game 5 in Arizona. This is necessarily truncated, the Spurs winning narrowly before validating their qualification at home.
“It is deeply unfair”
loose the owner of Phoenix. “We’ve been playing clean basketball since the start of the series and we’ve been penalized. It’s disgusting. If a team should be penalized in this series, it was undoubtedly San Antonio. I am still shocked. »
On the NBA side, Stu Jackson replies that “the rules are the rules. »
“They got up from their bench. We looked at the images, they were well within 5-6 meters of their bench. Even if they did not intervene in the altercation, we apply the rules without any second thoughts. »
But not without consequences: Steve Nash and others see the Spurs easily eliminate the Jazz 4-1 in the next round before “sweeping” the Cavaliers in the final. Robert Horry deprived the city of Phoenix of this boulevard which opened in front of it, and traumatized many Suns fans. Weighted with an aging Shaquille O’Neal by his GM Steve Kerr, Mike D’Antoni and his “Run & Gun” leave a year later. The franchise reached the conference finals in 2010 but its best title shot is behind it. Tattooed on the shoulder of Robert Horry.
2023-05-14 11:15:00
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