Darius Songaila Suspended - Updated

Updated to include comments from Bullets Forever in red below.

Whoa. Stu Jackson just took Songaila out of the game:

Washington Wizards forward Darius Songaila has received a one game suspension without pay for striking Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James in the face with his hand, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 3:20 remaining in the first period of Washington's 88-87 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday, April 30 at Quicken Loans Arena. Songaila will serve the suspension tonight when the Wizards host Cleveland in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round.

Blatant favoritism, justice served or somewhere in between?

Jake-the-Snake from the well respected Bullets Forever blog, sends the following heartfelt thoughts:

I guess the word that comes to mind most right now is "frustrated." While I can see and understand where some people might think that it was a cheap shot, I still don't think Songaila was trying to hit him, that's just not who Songaila is.

If these were normal circumstances, I really don't think a suspension would've been handed down, but with the rough and tumble nature the series has taken, I guess the NBA felt they needed to take a stand, even though there have been much harder fouls in this series.

SLAM posts a single sentence:

If you punch LeBron James, you get suspended for a playoff game. This refers to Darius Songaila.

which generated 14 comments in 28 minutes, ranging from:

It wasn't a punch --Elvis

to

If the refs don't eject him, why suspend him afterwards? What's the logic behind it? --PeteB80

and the short and somewhat enigmatic:

Only if he were out there to slap/strike/punch LeBron. --Sam Rubenstein

Cleveland.com put up a short just-the-facts note credited to Branson Wright. Expecting gloat and glee from commenters, other than the obligatory "LOL", I was happily surprised at the tone of the Cleveland fans:

I don't understand when he does not get call for a flagrant foul and gets suspended, but you can get tossed from the game for a flagrant foul like Heaywood did and the league does nothing. This just go to show you the NBA does not know what it is doing on the flagrant fouls. --Cletecgy

I think that was a terrible decision. It was inadvertant. Stu Jackson and the rest of the NBA's front office need some help . . . --By36Points

Wow! I'm a huge Cavaliers fan and have been so for my entire life. I have to admit, this suspension is weak. Songaila's foul was a flagrantt foul and that's it. I'm shocked they suspended him and not Haywood. Haywood's foul was much worse!! --thelike5

Here's the clip (thank you, Odenized):

Flagrant? Intentional? Inadvertent? Bad call?

Limited to the angles shown on TV, my opinion is equally limited; I'll let Intentional Foul have the last word:

. . . there's NO WAY the great playoff series from the 80s would be anywhere near as enjoyable if the league was as sensitive as it is now.

JBM216 / Flickr.com