The Elbow Incident

you throw a punch, you get suspended. you throw an elbow without looking, same thing. varejao deserved the tech, but ray deserved to get thrown out of the game.

if varejao had done it to ray, i’d ask for 10 games…. we’ll see if ray’s image helps him avoid missing a game he would like sitting out anyway.

it would probably be a good thing if the starters all got to sit out at least one game between now and the start of the playoffs. so, this could end up being a positive.

I love ray but I can’t defend him on this one. It was a cheap shot and he should be fined or suspended. I know he was frustrated and no doubt Varejao is a dbag and no doubt ray got clobbered severat times with no calls but you can’t punch or elbow guys in the privates. It was a dirty play and out of character for ray

since I believe he is (and still do believe) he is one of the classiest athletes in all of sports. I mean, Varejao is one of those players who gets under your skin. A lot of the foreign players seem to have that characteristic. Ray was just frustrated. He was thrown down and he retaliated. Whether or not he meant to hit him in the junk is irrelevant because it’s documented as a clean nut-shot.

 I don’t condone nut-shots, but as a person who despises Varejao I don’t mind anything negative that happens to him. Call me insensitive but it’s true. Him and Vujacic are two players whom I think are doing a disservice to the league with their Euro-flop style of play.

But what is most glaring to me is the fact that the Brazilian ‘boy’ didn’t even flinch. Forget investigating the groin hit, the NBA should make sure that no females are tricking the system by sneaking into the league. Not even an ‘ouch’ Varejao? I don’t admire your strength, because even Tyson in his prime would have stumbled after that.

Ray said he was not going to forget the Cavs celebrating on their bench in the fourth, and that those would be great motivational thoughts for him. Go ahead. I doubt LeBron will forget Ray elbowing one of his best friends in the gonads either. And, in the words of LeBron James: “If you take it as disrespectful, then do something about it.” What will Ray do about it? Probably throw out another in his long line of stellar performances as a Celtic against the Cavaliers. Tonight: 2-8 from the field for 6 points. Look out Cleveland, Ray Allen is coming and he is now motivated.

Ray likes his arm and reacts by swinging his elbow at V’s privates instinctively.
What V did was quite likely much more physically damaging to Ray than what Ray did. Further you can see v yelling “Bi###” at Ray.

Ray has a long history of being a clean player. V has a history of being something much less than that.

its is what it is. if you want my opinion on the matter, I think V deserves to embarass himself in the ecf while his team goes down in flames.

We’ll see how it works out.

You have to be delusional to think Ray was aiming anywhere but the groin. He strikes upward with his elbow between Varejao’s legs. Unless he skipped 1st grade anatomy class, I assume he realizes that males have a groin and waist below the “gut.”

Regarding the claims of Varejao’s instigation: Yes, he wrapped up Ray Allen’s arms and dragged him to the ground. Yes, Allen exaggerated. Yes, Varejao should have got a technical… but notice that he did nothing afterwards, and didn’t react after getting hit in the groin. If anything, Varejao should be praised for his restraint. I would have probably tried to murder somebody if a man cowardly hit me there.

And probably the worst part, as you can see in the video, is that Ray Allen starts jawing with the Cavs bench…seriously? You just got caught hitting someone in the groin (a strict no-no in any sport), and then have the audacity to talk junk? And then you proceed to criticize the Cavs players for lack of class after the game? Kettle, meet pot.

I have always liked Ray Allen, but there is no defense for his actions here. Hopefully it was just a lone bad judgment incident (I can’t recall any shenanigans by him in the past), and not a reflection of his character.

Didnt even pay that close attention to the play in question,the game was too much of a massacre for me to care, and the notion that ray allen and or the celtics are a dirty team or any more dirty then a team that wants to win is a joke

It was a dirty play by Ray. So was Anderson holding his arm and throwing him down. Refs made the right call.

Brett really gets on my nerves Lakers have sent how many people this year to the hospital and to him that is not dirty but if a celtic does anything it is an international incident.

No calls by the refs, getting mugged day, after day I understand enough is enough, they have played there hearts out saying nothing about it, but I have something call the game right, play the game right, and just…. Is \t is not going to get better till the refs do there job!!!

They need to beat both the team there playing, and the poor reffing to win this year, and yes there is a God!!!

Have peace all!!!

…and this is the first time he`s ever been involved in an ugly incident.

What should that tell you?

1} Ray is a class act
2} Ray had to have been seriously provoked by Varejao to do that
3} Van Gundy once again displayed his anti-Celtic bias by downplaying Varejao`s take-down of Ray
4} Varejao is a moron…because a smart player would`ve at least pretended that Ray`s elbow injured him, in order to get Ray suspended!

Ray Allen deserves to be suspended and for more than one game too …. he’s lucky the regular season is almost over, that’s his saving grace because the NBA’s front office won’t want him missing playoff games.

No need for that nonsense — if you want to throw an elbow, be a man and send it elsewhere — bad form from Ray-Ray.

I don’t understand how you could possibly think that Ray’s elbow was unintentional. I am not condoning Varejao’s actions, but how many of you, when you are getting up off the floor, deliberately swing an elbow behind your head? Not to mention that after the fact, Ray said nothing to suggest he didn’t do it on purpose. He in fact eluded to the fact that he did do it on purpose saying he “wasn’t going to let them walk all over us on national TV.” I believe it most certainly warrants a suspension, and it was a weak-minded move from an otherwise classy player. Big picture? This game means nothing. And I’m a Cavs fan. I fully expected a comfortable win with KG and Powe out.

Wow…

Coming from a neutral source (I’m a Heat fan…could care less about the Cavs of Celts – I hate the Knicks), the initial incident just looked like a typical player-tangle, and Ray tripped while the little dance went on. I didn’t see Varejao actually grab Ray’s hand or try to pull him DOWN…he simply did his part to get out of the tangle, and as soon as Ray went down, he threw up his hands (like so many others do when they commit a questionable foul). Ray LOOKED, and took his shot…that guy didn’t swing wildly. That wasn’t a roundhouse-elbow, that was a straight elbow-stab to the ol’ Brazilian babymaker.

I saw the play as it unfolded, btw…I was watching the game with my uncle as a “quality time” thing. So I saw a lot more of the context than just the youtube vid (I actually haven’t seen THAT)