Robert Horry hip-checks Steve Nash and destroys the Suns chances at a title in 2007 due to suspensions later in the series
That wasn’t as bad as I remembered it, but Horry’s reaction instead of immediately turning around and showing any concern, shows that it was definitely intentional.
Absolutely intentional. Reminds me of the Derek Fisher elbow on Luis Scola.
Kobe Bryant elbow on Mike Bibby
You mean when Bibby fouled Kobe with his face?
IK, R? Bibby was so rude to do that Kobe.
Actually a case of the Mandela effect. It was a no-call; Christie immediately intentionally fouled Kobe.
Still grinds my gears
Kobe was a bad human being
Players can tell when the refs are on their side. They’ll start doing crazy shit like that because they’ll get away with it
In defense of Fisher that was straight retaliatory for bullshit that Scola did earlier. Dude deserved it.
And just so yall know I’m not being biased, I will absolutely say that the 1) Ron Artest elbow to Harden and 2) Bynum shoulder check of JJ Barrera were absolutely unwarranted and Bush league.
This man just pulled out some shark spray out of his utility belt to shut down all the questions before they happened
In fairness, any Laker fan still defending Metta and Bynum for those two hit jobs in 2026 needs to get the senior citizen facility to ensure the medication is checked.
https://youtu.be/2Y8CzEjNVJw?is=nnBx5PgHhHXeXEAh
Was there something earlier in the game that Scola did that deserved Fisher’s truck stick? I watched it back because I couldn’t remember. Unless you’re talking about heated words being exchanged in a tight playoff series, I’m not seeing anything that deserved Fisher’s reaction. Mind you, we’re not out on the court and don’t know what words were said.
From memory, Scola was 100% one of those players that lived on the fringe of hustle/questionable and felt irritating to watch the Lakers play against. Idk that I would justify what Fisher did so much as just say I get why he’d have done it
Kevin Love stomped his face lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHKft_9gJlY
Natural running motion, ask Draymond
Jermaine O’Neal also stepped on him after Scola blocked him
Did the refs give the Lakers the series over the Kings?
Bynum on Barea too.
Fuck Horry and Fisher. Both POS’s.
I remember this series. Nash I got beat up so much by the spurs. I loved the early spurs but this was around the time the suns became the underdogs and the spurs the constant winning force that was more fun to root against.
Split joae in game 1, Bruce bowen knees him in the balls in-game 3. I think this was the series where they showed his shins just being bruised to high fuck cause bowne kept hitting them, then this happens.
Bruce Bowen was a dirty dog. He would also put his feet under jump shooters.
Or in their faces:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1nbgpdh/bruce_bowen_playing_hardnosed_defense_on_wally/
Natural closeout motion
Even if Wally didn’t pump fake and reposition, what was Bowen thinking leading with his foot?!
Its Bruce Bowen what did you expect? Mf was straight up testing the limits of what the NBA refs would call a foul
Fuck Bruce Bowen
Classy Spurs
Sure was. I was a huge suns fan cause the celtics were stuck being mediocre or bad. So I picked a West coast team that was fun as my team.
We are natural allies in our hate for the Lakers
Dirty dog makes it sound like he wasn’t a bitch.
He is the reason that’s a flagrant foul now. So many players missed time from ankle sprains cause of Bowen.
It was definitely Zaza, but Bowen did it occasionally too
Tbf the split nose in game 1 was contact initiated by Nash, his head collided into Parker’s and TP got bruised up while Nash got an open cut out of it. Nash definitely got the worse-looking injury out of it though, and there’s obviously no defending Bowen or Horry here
Oh yeah, but that was game 1, game 4 he’s still beat up I don’t blame his team for having his back
It’s a playoff game that was intentional lol
It’s crazy he didn’t get more games for basically punching Raja Bell afterwards.
He was basically washed at that point. That was his only contribution the whole series. He probably didn’t care how many games he missed
And immediately elbows Raja Bell in the throat as he’s running up. Horry a bitch. Played for the Suns after the Barkley trade, but we got rid of him after he threw a towel in his coaches face, who was Danny Ainge. Fuck. Robert. Horry.
Hijacking the top comment to show this well-produced, cool little mini-doc I found on this whole situation: https://youtu.be/EmRG9u0a_nA
Former players, coaches, and announcers interviewed.
My favorite part is years later when Raja Bell said in an interview that Steve Nash told him he gave the fall “a little bit of flair” to sell it.
So, you waited for the reaction to realise this was intentional? Like, it was obvious from the first second
I mean Nash later admitted he embellished it. I could find you the direct quote. Point is it wasn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be, but Horry was obviously taking his frustrations out
ETA: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/raja-bell-admits-that-steve-nash-sold-the-robert-horry-hip-check-in-2007-playoffs/
The most bullshit suspensions of all time
Especially since Duncan got off the bench earlier in the game during an altercation and they didn’t suspend him.
People love to bring up 02 Kings-Lakers as a possible fixed series but completely ignore this series which imo has some of the worst one sided “rules for thee, not for me” calls in the NBA.
Mike Breen and co openly questioning the officials on calls during game 3 was really unheard of by an announcer at the time. That game was reffed by Tim Donaghy.
Bowen driving the knee into Nash and it’s a basic foul? No flagrant? Anytime the Suns got on a run ole Timmy and co had their whistles ready.
Edit: Fucking Tim Donaghy calling touch fouls at the rim from beyond half court but misses Bowen kneeing the fuck out of Nash which was 3 feet in front of him? Bullshit.
Its “rules for thee and not for me” lol
THESE NUTZZZZZ
Haha yo you hit em with the ole razzle dazzle
Ride em Cowboy!
Whatever bro. This whole series makes me lose my head and for whatever reason autocorrect hates the word thee.
You’re doing the lord’s work here and I thank you.
After the 2006 Finals the refs and league figured they didn’t even need to try to hide it anymore.
tbf they weren’t really hiding it before in 2002. I would even go back to the 1988 Finals and say that was some open bs too with the phantom foul and the crowd running onto the floor (also no Magic foul call)
So basically it would come back to Stern’s core driven need to have a dynasty perched, with a mantle bearing superstar on the mast head. It completely checks out for how Stern ran the league
Weird, because the Spurs were consistently a small-market ratings disaster back then whereas the Suns’ fun offense was made for TV. I have no idea whatsoever what Stern would think he had to gain from fixing it for the Spurs.
He knew he couldn’t laugh.
Zero tolerance policy is aggressively and stubbornly stupid. What an era
It wasn’t just a zero tolerance policy. It was a zero tolerance policy that had rarely been enforced both before and after, including not on the other team in the same game.
Exactly. Not a fan of either team, but the selective enforcement of that rule was ridiculous.
I get what people are saying when they praise Stern whenever Silver allows some bullshit to happen, but Adam Silver 100% would not have suspended those guys after this.
Yeah Stern was bullshit in his own ways. Also hard to evaluate commissioners since most people only know of 2 during their lifetime
Say it with me everyone: Fuck Robert Horry (and David Stern.)
Fuck Robert Horry!
Still too soon
FREE AMARE
The suspension would never happen in today’s league lol imagine social media if that happened today
The 1997 Knicks would like to have a word.
thank you…I did not expect a Celtic fan to bring that one up, but thank you lol
fucking NBA…longstanding wound that was only really eased on June 13th
It was a TRAVESTY for any non-Heat fan at the time. Total BS.
Spurs fan but yes i agree
They were such an exciting team were Suns. It sucked to see Sroudomire get suspended, he just got up to see if Nash was fine. It was a shitty call..
Yep. Nash was the leader and heart and soul of the team. They see him get decked. They reacted. There was never an intention to fight but they said “no wiggle room to this rule.”
Yet another thing the 90s Knicks and Heat ruined for everyone else.
Nah, this can be blamed on the Malice at the Palace in 2004. For about 5 years after the incident they were super jumpy about anything that looked like it could end up in a brawl off the bench. That was when they actually started enforcing the rules.
Horry will always be a whore for this but contextually, you’re absolutely correct that Malice was the primary reason for Stoudamire’s suspension.
Speaking as someone who watched it back in the day, still leaves a super bad taste - loved those Suns teams so much, they brought me back to the NBA after we traded Ray Allen and I needed to take a hiatus
Nash was always bloody and getting battered, imagine him with sgas whistle today
Broken nose game, swollen eye game, missing teeth game.
Dude is Canadian, he was playing hockey even on the court.
Nash with todays whistle, free flowing offense, and green light to shoot would be on the 2000’s mount rushmore.
But that’s an impossible hypothetical, because the modern game only came about because of him and that suns offense, of which he was the only one who could operate it that effectively.
No this was in the aftermath of the Malice in the Palace
No, the rule for off the bench immediate suspension was instituted in 95 after a Knicks and Heat brawl got out of hand.
I think Malice in the Palace was a little fresher on the NBA’s minds, having only happened a couple of seasons before..
Of course but that’s not the reason they got suspended. They got suspended because of the off the bench rule which was instituted because of the Knicks and Heat.
The rule was barely enforced, if ever. there are plenty of early 2000s brawls, especially in the playoffs, pre-malice that didn’t result in suspensions for people coming off the bench
And imo the implementation of the rule is more important than whether it was simply on the books. There are plenty of “rules” that officials don’t enforce or only enforce by their discretion, even today
yeah, SSOL suns is one of my favorite non-spurs teams of all time, so fucking fun to watch and i love steve nash, and plus their supporting cast (boris diaw, leandro barbosa, shawn marion) were all such interesting players
> S7OL
lol seconds 7 or less?? Just say SSOL. But yes, Steve Nash + Mike Dantoni created magic with that scheme. Absolutely legendary and a shame they never won a ring.
whoops, i switched the 7 and the S lol ya i guess SSOL is better
One of the most bullshit moments in NBA history. I fucking loved those Suns teams.
Edit: Cavs fan
Pacers fan, and same. Easily my favorite non-Pacer team.
Knicks fan, and same.
Bucks fan, same - those Suns teams reinvigorated my love for the game after it was heavily tested when we traded Ray
Cs fan in Phoenix and I remember it so well. The next game they led the entire game in spite of the suspensions. I feel like the spurs first lead was under a minute left on a Bowen 3. It was absolutely fucking brutal.
My theory is that fun teams like Suns and ‘02 Kings get screwed over because they become public favorites and probably attract more betting money on them and by screwing them over, you can make a killing.
Game 4 of the 2025 Finals as well. Fortunately the Knicks survived the attempted screwjobs this year (as did Indiana in the CFP natty).
Them and the 02 Kings team are the two non-Bulls team I have the greatest love/regret for.
Between Joe Johnson breaking his face and these leaving the bench suspensions, I don’t know what’s more heartbreaking for Suns fans.
Being up 2-0 in the finals and losing 4 straight…
Blowing up said finals team then getting swept in the 1st round
Trading Rondo for cash hurt for me personally
I still think about that Bill Simmons “what if” column about the Suns
Except Nash >>>>>>>> Booker
I quit being a Suns (and for years Nba) fan when he went to the Lakers. Teenage me was that heartbroken.
That was a pretty heartbreaking trade, but at least he didn’t contribute to a Lakers chip. Definitely the darkest days as a Suns fan after that, we don’t win but we’re usually always some kind of competitive
Unfortunately, there is a lot to choose from.
Losing Kareem on a coin flip, facing MJ in the finals, blowing a 2-0 finals lead, losing to Mavs by 90…
I think there’s a finals against the celtics where we lost in 3OT
This guy Suns.
Also in that 1976 Finals with the 3OT they Boston called timeout without any and the refs missed. Also the Boston fans ran on the court early when they thought it was over and were apparently messing with the game and shit
Jason Richardson not boxing out Metta because he was too busy fucking Nash’s wife
This whole era was just full of heartbreak.
The JJ injury, and then letting him leave. Trading first round picks for nothing. Stoudemire missing the whole 2005-06 season due to injury. The suspension stuff. The Tim Donaghy stuff. Nash’s bloody nose. The Tim Duncan three. The Ron Artest buzzer beater.
The organisation then followed it up with the worst decade in team history. No playoff appearances, multiple fumbled draft picks. It’s made even worse that after taking Alex Len, Marquese Chriss, Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender all with top ten picks, and then the ONE top pick they make that actually ends up a productive pick, Deandre Ayton, is selected over a generation talent in Luka.
I blame Steve Nash for a lifetime of trauma.
Keeping Joe the Suns would’ve been a dynasty in my view. He did so much with the Hawks and showed his expanded game. But he was such a deadly three point shooter that year he really broke out with Nash dishing him the ball. I really feel he would of blossomed a lot more being with Nash and Amare then the Hawks too. He was also the missing piece of being overly reliant on Nash.
It’s so crazy over a couple million.
Nash, JJ, Marion and Amare should of played 6-10 years together not one.
come and view the museum /r/ArizonaSportsHell
It was this series, and nothing has ever come close. I’ve been a sports fan for 25 years, and losing the game after this one is the only time I’ve ever cried following a loss in amy sport. I’ll forever hate the Spurs for this, even if their fans are pretty cool.
Just trying to get through a hellish work week and then seeing this post…
I feel you Suns bro.. Lol.
Fuck Robert Horry
From Every Pistons fans
The Kings stand with the Pistons faction: Fuck Robert Horry!
I’ll never forget watching that ball roll out to him at the three point line. That play felt like it took forever
Obligatory
Good time to start drinking I guess.
As a warriors fan?
Some can legally drink now
But why would this play make them want to drink?
He just needed a excuse
It’s a good time
It’s 5:00 somewhere
He was just commenting out loud that it’s about that time of day for him lol
Because fuck Robert horry
Lmao
The first basketball team i fell in love with was the 05 Suns
I have no doubt in my mind that the Suns would have won it all that year had the NBA not suspended multiple players on their team as a result of this play. Utter bullshit.
I mean, they would have rolled the Cavs like the Spurs did.
14 year old me would’ve been insufferable if Nash beat Lebron. Cavs fan, but I LOVED Nash
I mean there’s got to be some doubt. They were 2-2 here and had 2 series to play also. Like the suspension was 1 non-closeout game.
There’s no doubt!!!!!!
Well they’re down 3 and the shot clock is off. You kinda have to foul once Finley misses the steal.
Imagine Nash with free reign to shoot and SGA whistle
People downplay his scoring but he always hyper efficient and part of a system offense
In the last 3 games of the ‘05 Mavs series, he averaged 40/9/10 on 60/58/100 splits. 39 pts in a close OT game to send the Mavs packing. He was a beast for sure.
NBA totally overreacted bc of malice in the palace. So ridiculous
The intention of the rule was to prevent fights. They got up and sat right back down, the rule worked. Suspending them was bullshit. Stern coulda have simply said the rule needed a slight revision and allowed them to continue playing. Instead, nope. NBA is/was rigged so it’s not surprising.
I firmly believe that they would have won the finals that year without those suspensions. They only went 8 deep and were essentially playing the next game with 6 dudes (and it was close).
As a diehard Suns fan, seeing everyone support the Suns on the hipcheck and suspension is refreshing. I remember when it happened it felt like the league was against us. This series stung.
I was just a kid and casual fan but those teams were so fun to watch whenever they were on TNT and i could catch them. I was so stoked to potentially see Nash finally in the finals against my other favorite player Lebron. Fuck Horry and fuck the Spurs, it still annoys me when people act like they have squeaky clean and ethical reputation lol
Steve Kerr 10 years later… “that’ll do, Draymond”
The NBA destroys the Suns chances…..
As a Cavs fan, if Phoenix won that series they would have averaged 135 per game against Cleveland in the Finals.
stoudemire and diaw played game 6, it was ginobili who destroyed the suns lol
The momentum was clearly swung in the spurs favor because they didn’t play game 5. Spurs were pretty much handed a win when it was supposed to be an advantage home game for the suns.
Yeah the loss of home court advantage was the really big thing here.
lol is this a Mandela effect? Hardest I’ve laughed in a while
i hate the spurs but we gotta stop acting like it’s a guaranteed suns win this series and the championship
It’s not that it was a guarantee. It’s that the NBA/refs weren’t applying the rules evenly. Duncan walked completely on the court and wasn’t suspended at all.
Game 3 is still talked about as being one of the worst officiated games in NBA history. You had Tim Donaghy calling shooting fouls at the rim from half court.
Bruce Bowen knees Nash in the thigh/nuts area and it wasn’t even a foul with Donaghy standing right there 2 feet away. He can’t see that but he can see a touch foul 3 feet from the rim at half court????
Edit: it took a whole other ref to call the foul on Bowen.
Sure, but this decision guaranteed they wouldn’t win.
steve nash gets a pass for ringless all time greats.
This play single handedly excuses him.
Most all time greats should get a pass imo. As long as they weren’t playoff droppers
And just immediately throws an elbow into the throat of the first suns player he sees 😂 Classy
Big (Cheap) Shot Bob.
It is funny how the GOAT coaches all seem to overlook dirty players on their team. Win at all costs.
You don’t think Pop told Bob to do it?
He didn’t see the replay. Pop was exactly like Kerr is now, he’d kind of downplay and look the other way when Bowen was out there intentionally injuring people. It’s why a lot of people were calling bs when Kawhi got Zaza’d because Bowen literally has a reel of him doing the same thing to several people
This was the most corrupt series of basketball I’ve ever.
I think it’s come out since that this was a series that one of the refs has admitted was fixed.
I had surgery that year and watch the entire NBA playoffs and the Spurs vs Suns series was a brutal bloodbath.
Someone on the Spurs could walk up and punch Steve Nash in the face and Steve Nash would be called for a technical.
This series is up there with Game 5 and 6 of Cleveland vs GSW that allowed Cleveland to come back in that series as the most obviously rigged games of basketball I’ve ever seen.
This was absolute horseshit. Will never forget watching this series and being livid even though I’m not a Suns fan. Completely mishandled by the refs.
That was some bullshit.
Only reason Nash didn’t win a chip as a player imho.
Just a reminder that multiple Spurs left the bench in the same series and weren’t suspended.
Incoming defending dirty plays spurs fans.
This fucked the Suns hard , it got STAT suspended for simply checking on Nash
Suns walked so Warriors could run.
I’d like to run just once :(
Essentially, even brought In Kerr and Nash
Has the suspension rule ever been enforced outside of this game? Such bullshit.
May be Bob’s biggest shot.
Suns win this ship and people quit putting people like Kyrie and Chris Paul ahead of Nash. Justice for the true point god. Very few players have ever had such a leaguewide impact on how the game is played as he did. Not just in games that he was present in, or how teams were built to stop him (like the Shaq’s of the world). But on basketball itself.
You can separate era’s based on when he got the keys to that phoenix suns offense. I don’t think anybody besides Curry has had a similar impact since the turn of the century.
Fuck Robert Horry! I don’t care how old he is it’s on sight.
Those spurs teams especially during bowen’s era were just dirt to watch, always some controversial bullshit in their games.
They became fun around 11-12 when they changed their style of play.
Wait help me understand. This hip check that he did caused NASH to get suspended because he got a technical over it?
No, Nash’s teammates get suspended for leaving the bench. You can see the coaches pushing Amare Stoudemire back to the bench near the end of the clip.
I mean, they didn’t do anything, but they stood up and walked towards Nash so… suspended. Not only was Stoudemire suspended, but so was his backup Boris Diaw. As a result the suns had no chance in what should have been a home-court-advantaged game 5, and that was that.
Thanks for the explanation. Damn that is wack.
And then becomes a champion because the NBA hands the Spurs the series on a silver platter
Fuck the Spurs. So glad they got embarrassed this year.
lol yea the youngest team in the league made it to the finals when they were expected to be out in the first couple rounds, how embarassing
The decision to suspend both of Phoenix’s PFs because they dared get up to check on their teammate will go down as possibly the worst decision ever made by the NBA.
Spurs got a championship in their near future it looks like. Congrats but y’all stole this one from us so fuck Robert Horry and fuck the Spurs
That panel not being a LED screen made me laugh out loud lol I thought Nash was going to bounce off a screen
The league was fucked up to suspend the suns players
Horry a bitch for this but it worked and basically got them the series win.
One of the great forgotten moments as it relates to rating the impact that the Steph Warriors have had on the game.
Chances are very good that the “you can’t win it all shooting threes argument could have died with this suns team had this incident not happened.
Also, shoutout to Malice at the Palace for what happened here. Post brawl, the NBA instituted what you could call the hot lava rule, which was the automatic suspension for anyone who even steps one foot on the court during a fight if they weren’t one of the ten players in the game.
Robert Horry is a bitch
Fuck motherfucking fuck Robert motherfucking Horry!
fuck
FUCK David Stern
Those suspensions were bullshit and I will always believe that the Suns could have won the championship that year
It’s just insane to me all these years later: the Spurs commit a flagrant foul….so the Suns lose 2 of their best players in the next game. Wtf
That spurs team would be SO hated if they played in the social media age of today
A bitch acting like a bitch
Cheap Shot Rob
I promise you pop and the spurs drew this up like a play they planned they lost role players sins lost Amare and some other key players can’t remember
Dirty like wemby
These were literally my first playoffs ever as a basketball fan, and I remember being so mad at how the league handled this situation. Literally hated the Spurs until 2013 because of it.
And I’m not even a Sun’s fan, I can’t imagine how angry they must still be over this ridiculous suspension.
Big Shot Bob
Good thing the spurs suffered karmic retribution for this right?……right?
This is one of those I Remember Where I Was Watching moments. People don’t realize how villainous those Spurs were.
Who got suspended because of the fight that followed?
Amare 2 games and Diaw 1