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According to Sekou Smith at NBA.com, Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers and David Lee of the Golden State Warriors have each received one game suspensions for their actions in the altercation that took place in Tuesday night's game in Indianapolis.
Roy Hibbert and David Lee suspended 1 game for shoulder scuffle. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Lance Stephenson fined $35,000.
— Sekou Smith (@SekouSmithNBA) February 27, 2013
The suspensions were to be expected. If you haven't seen it, the shoving escalated to a level a few notches above your typical on-court flapdoodle, and the action made it into the first row of seats, which was sure to get a reaction from the league office.
It started out as a couple of garden variety after-the-whistle shoves between bigs battling for rebounding position, but it escalated quickly. Strangely, Stephen Curry, for some reason, decided to try to restrain Hibbert rather than restraining his own teammates. Note to frail NBA point guards with significant injury history -- don't take it on yourself to restrain dudes that go 280 during NBA skirmishes. Hibbert brushes Curry aside like a gnat not once but twice.
Both of these suspensions could end up benefiting the Clippers. The most obvious benefit is that Hibbert, the backstop for Indiana's league-best defense, will miss L.A.'s visit to Indianapolis Thursday night. The Pacers have been playing great basketball, and the game will remain a definite challenge for the Clippers, but there's little question that Indy will feel Hibbert's absence, especially as they try to deal with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
As for Lee, he'll miss tonight's game against the New York Knicks. It's not as it the Warriors still pose a significant threat to the Clippers at this point after losing seven of their last ten, but they remain second in the Pacific Division, so every additional Dubs loss helps move the Clippers that much closer to their first ever division crown. The Clippers currently hold a seven game lead over Golden State, who should be more concerned with staying ahead of the other L.A. team than they are with catching the Clippers.
Three other players, Curry, Klay Thompson and Lance Stephenson, received fines of $35K each for their parts in the brouhaha. Ralph and Mike were speculating that David West might also be sanctioned by the league, but he escaped with neither a suspension nor a fine despite being in the middle of the hullabaloo.