Allen suspended one game for kick to Paul's face

The play where Tony Allen actually kicked Chris Paul in the face was a strange one. In the immediate aftermath of the play, you can see Allen rubbing his shin -- apparently CP3's face is really hard. If it hurt Allen's shin, imagine how it felt to Paul's face. Allen was ejected from the game Monday, and will miss another game serving a one game suspension for the incident.

I don't think for a moment that Allen was actively trying to kick Paul in the face. He was trying to be big, to distract Paul and cut off his passing lanes however he could. But that doesn't excuse what he did. (The sight of Allen pleading with referees about the call as if some sort of injustice had been perpetrated on him was pretty laughable. What exactly did he think was going to happen after he literally kicked a guy in the head?)

Tony Allen Kicks Chris Paul In The Face (Nov 18 2013) (via Maxa711Clips)

The point is it was an incredibly dangerous thing to do, and deserving of a Flagrant 2 and ejection. I'm mildly surprised that the NBA followed up the in game call with another day of suspension -- or perhaps surprised isn't the word, but this was such a unique incident, there just isn't any precedent, so I had no idea how the NBA would handle it.

Let's face it -- there are rules in soccer about not getting you're feet up around your opponent's head. Those rules are there for a reason, and that's soccer, where you've got a legitimate reason to get your feet up there if that's where the ball is. In basketball, there's really no reason ever that a defender's feet should be at head level -- especially in a crowded lane. Intent to actually make contact has no relevance to the discussion at that point -- it's a dangerous play, and it's completely unacceptable.

The game was surprisingly incident-free, except for this one play which was very much out of the blue.