Shaq Hit Up For $64,500
The Orlando Magic, upset with the one-game suspension imposed on Shaquille O’Neal by the NBA on Saturday, said it wasn’t all their man’s fault.
O’Neal was suspended by the NBA for an altercation with Boston Celtics rookie Eric Montross during Friday’s 129-103 Magic victory. He charged Montross after the two became tangled while positioning for a rebound just 5 minutes into the game, lunging and hitting the Celtics center in the throat area.
“We felt it was a shove and some people feel it was a punch,” Magic vice president of operations John Gabriel said. “Rod Thorn (NBA vice president of operations) told me it was somewhere in between, but clearly it was a blow, and that’s why they suspended Shaquille.”“Shaq told me it all started the night before and this was just a carry over,” Hill said. “He felt that Montross had played him dirty the night before and it was happenning again.”
O’Neal was suspended without pay, which will cost him about $58,500. He was fined $5,000 by the league and - because he was ejected Friday - he must pay an automatic $1,000 fine. That raises the price of the push to $64,500.
“I’m disappointed,” Hill said. “I don’t feel it was something that merited a suspension, but that’s how the league saw it, so we’ll abide by the decision.”
O’Neal will miss today’s home game against Chicago.
A secret no longer
The San Antonio Spurs offered forward Sean Elliott and a No. 1 draft pick for Scottie Pippen last week. The Bulls said no.
But the Spurs still believe they can win the NBA championship, and who’s to say the league’s hottest team - 13 victories in their last 15 games, and 28 in their last 35 - can’t take the crown?
“We’ve really made quite a climb,” Elliott said. “Maybe it’s good people don’t know about us.”
They do now, actually, because in consecutive games, with Dennis Rodman averaging 27 rebounds, the Spurs knocked off the defending champion Rockets and the champion wannabes, the Suns.
Nellie to Boston?
Talk is now Don Nelson is headed back to Boston as coach next season … The Bulls may see Charles Oakley when they play the Knicks on Thursday in New York. Oakley is due back from toe surgery for Tuesday’s Knicks-Magic matchup.
So was it true that when the Rockets went to the White House last week and coach Rudy Tomjanovich and President Clinton shook hands, someone said, “There’s the two guys least likely to repeat?” Nah. But Mario Elie, one of just five Rockets who elected to attend, admits he did steal some White House stationery and Scott Brooks took a box of M & M’s with the presidential seal. “I wanted to let everyone know I was there,” Elie said.