Flagrant fouls are point of contention

NEW YORK (AP) — After preseason lessons and season-long dialogue with team officials, the man in charge of discipline for the NBA believes players should have an understanding of the league’s flagrant foul rules.

By the end of the weekend, it was clear that wasn’t the case.

So after reading their complaints, Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, feels more dialogue may be necessary.

“I look at it as opportunity for us to further educate the players as well as the coaches in terms of what a flagrant foul is,” Jackson said. “Certainly the league office has consistently communicated to both the competition committee members, as well as the teams, on an ongoing basis as these fouls occur.

“But if there’s still some uncertainty with respect to what is a flagrant foul, what’s a suspendable offense and what a hard foul is, then it’s incumbent upon us here at the league office to do a better job going forward of educating everyone.”

The NBA has two levels of flagrant fouls: penalty one and penalty two. A penalty one is defined as unnecessary contact. The penalty two is issued if contact is deemed both unnecessary and excessive, and calls for an automatic ejection.

It’s up to the officials to determine if a foul fits either or both criteria, and the definitions of those terms could change from official to official.

“Flagrants in this game, it’s a little gray. There are some gray areas there, and I don’t have a solution,” Houston’s Shane Battier said.

“A lot of it comes down to judgment calls of the referees. I don’t have a good answer.”

Ron Artest was given a flagrant foul against Pau Gasol in the closing minutes of Los Angeles’ victory over Houston in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Friday night. Artest was given a penalty two and thrown out, even though players and coaches on both teams thought it was nothing more than a hard foul, at most worthy of a flagrant one.

Saturday Jackson downgraded the play to a flagrant one, reducing by one the flagrant foul points against Artest. A player is suspended one game in the postseason once he reaches four flagrant foul points.

“Certainly with respect to flagrant foul penalty ones and all fouls in general, the referees have to make decisions in split tenths of a second,” he said. “When you’re evaluating the severity of the contact, that’s a daunting task and isn’t always easy to do. That’s why the league office evaluates flagrant fouls postgame to confirm them.”