Raja Bell was suspended by the NBA on Wednesday for Game 6 of the Lakers-Suns series after blatantly clotheslining Kobe Bryant during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game.  This marks the fourth time during this year's playoffs that a player has been suspended for a game due to what the NBA calls "excessive conduct."   

These extreme retaliations have done nothing to help their teams in the playoffs, with a record of 1-2 so far in games that a player was suspended by the league.  In the cases of Bell and James Posey, the cheap shots occurred in the fourth quarter when the games were already out of hand. 

It's about time that the NBA does more than simply dress their players up like grown-ups, they should teach them how to act like grown-ups.  It is detracting from the three best first round series, making it difficult to appreciate the fact that two 7-seeds and an 8-seed have all been able to challenge three of the top teams in the NBA on a game to game basis. 

We could be talking about the heriocs of Dwayne Wade, scoring 15 of his 28 points in the second half last night with a hip contusion or the unselfish play of Kobe Bryant, but the dirty plays have stolen the headlines.  The NBA has been airing commercials showing last second shots and amazing plays, yet it will be the blatant elbow by Ron Artest to Manu Ginobili and the mouthpiece thrown at Dick Bavetta by Udonis Haslem that will be best remembered. 

I can see it now...the Pistons call timeout during the NBA Finals and ABC goes to commercial.  Dennis Rodman comes crashing to the ground under the basket and he kicks a cameraman in the groin.  2006 NBA Playoffs.