Video: Shaq Ejected for Flagrant Foul on Rodney Stuckey

The Suns cruised to a surprisingly easy win over the Pistons, but it wasn't all fun and games. Shaquille O'Neal was ejected in the second quarter after the referees ruled that this take down of Rodney Stuckey was a foul of the flagrant two variety.

The rule book states that for a flagrant two to be called, the contact has to be both unnecessary and excessive. It was a hard foul, but I don't know how excessive it was. I think a flagrant one was in order, sure. But to me, that wasn't the type of foul that deserved the automatic ejection.

After the jump, referee Ken Mauer explains the reasoning behind the call.

"We got together and we felt -- first of all, a flagrant two has to have a wind-up and a follow through and be not only unnecessary, but we feel it's excessive," Mauer said. "We thought it followed all three of those. We felt he winded up. He hit him. He then pulled him down, that's the follow through. We felt after reviewing it that it was more than necessary. We felt it was excessive."

"Now, when we went to the table (we called it a flagrant two on the floor which allows us to go over and review) and then when the three of us reviewed the play, we all agreed that we would uphold the flagrant two. And it goes into the league and they do whatever."

The "whatever" Mauer's referring to is the fact that the league could uphold the call, downgrade it to a flagrant one, or decide it was so egregious that in addition to the automatic ejection, a suspension is warranted. I don't even think this should have resulted in the ejection, so obviously I think a suspension would be completely over the top here. But the way the Suns have been treated by the league lately, I'm sure they'll be holding their breath while they await word from the commissioner's office.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-17-2008 @ 9:58AM

crabs1771 said...

is it me or did stuckey brace his fall and then make it seem that he hit his head? i could be wrong and it was definitely a tough hit but i don't think it should have been an automatic ejection.

sulaymaan1 said...

Good to see the Rodney survived that foul, hopefully he didn't have any serious injury. I watched this video a few times and I noticed something. If this had been a smaller player other than Shaq a fight or scuffle probably would have happened. Rasheed Wallace and Kwame Brown standing there like that's Shaq can't F&^& with him.

11-29-2008 @ 10:00AM

CHRIS said...

SHAQ WAS GOING AFTER THE BALL,AND THIS CAN CLEARLY BE SEEN IN THE REPLAY,THIS REMINDS MEOFSOMEOFTHOSE BOGUS ROUGHING THE PASSER CALLS IN FOOTBALL,ITS ALLBECOMING TO SOFT,I DID NOT AGREE WITH THE CALL AT ALL.

11-17-2008 @ 4:16PM

todd said...

Hard foul, not flagrant. Went for the ball got arm. Don't bring it to the rim if you cannot finish.

It was pretty funny how they the other pistons just looked at Shaq. No one there to protect their team mate. They either agreed that it was just a hard foul, or didn't want to mess with Shaq.

In the 90's if this was considered a flagarant 2 then most of the pistons would have been thrown out of every game. It's called a hard foul. The game is far too soft today.

11-19-2008 @ 3:25PM

Pete said...

In my opinion Shaq did not "wind-up". Shaq did have to come accross the lane when A.S. got picked an signaled Shaq to cover. But "wind-up"? Get real, if Shaq wound-up and hit an oncoming player in the air...well forget about it. More BS from NBA officiating. The worst.

11-17-2008 @ 12:40PM

ryan said...

last time i checked this was NBA. NOT WNBA.It's a contact sport man. If you don't like to be hit, go play tennis or golf. NFL and NBA are becoming boring to watch now.

11-18-2008 @ 12:59AM

lsfj said...

basketballs not a contact sport you retard

11-17-2008 @ 3:29PM

Missy said...

As someone who actually knows Rodney, he did not act to get the flagrant foul, he is not a little guy.
This is not the 90s, if it were, Rodney would be in my classroom right now.
This is also not the NFL it is basketball. I don't mind hard hits, but not in basketball.

11-17-2008 @ 4:21PM

frank said...

Sometimes you wonder if Shaq was playing
with NFL as a defensive lineman ?
Or hit me , I am open ala Larry Csonka
with the opposite team holding to his legs
for dear life ?
jUST DREAMING;

11-29-2008 @ 11:20AM

A.J. said...

I'm not going to pretend to be an NBA expert - I'm more of a football guy. But it's because of that that I know...if you run full-force into a guy Shaq's size, it's not going to feel good, and it's going to look even worse. Think about it - how much extra force does a guy with Shaq's arms need to apply to make a foul look really bad? I'm not saying bigger players should always get a free pass. It's a foul - foul should have been called.

Did the guy get up? Well, it probably wasn't a Flagrant 2. Flagrant 2 calls to mind a few years ago when Rajah Bell (a smaller player, mind you) performed the Clothesline from Hell on Kobe Bryant coming through the paint. With Shaq out there...if that was a Flagrant 2, you'd know, because you'd most likely be carrying the guy out on a stretcher.