Popeye Jones' wingspan may have saved the Indiana Pacers' season.
USA TODAY Sports is reporting that the NBA has announced that the Pacers' star guard/forward will not be suspended for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series between the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
During the second quarter of the Pacers' 95-88 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta to stave off elimination, Indiana's George Hill and Atlanta's Mike Scott got involved in an on-court scuffle.
George, who was on the bench when the exchange took place, got up and took one step toward the court. That put him in jeopardy of violating an NBA rule that states "During an altercation, all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench. Violators will be suspended, without pay, for a minimum of one game and fined up to $50,000."
According to USA TODAY Sports, Jones, a Pacers assistant, quickly extended his arms, serving as a human guard rail to prevent the Indiana players on the bench from leaving the area.
It was George, the Pacers' leading scorer, who was sitting next to Jones, although Jones said he did not know who was around him when the incident occurred.
"Really and truly, I didn't even know who was sitting next to me," Jones said. " That's just something you know as an assistant coach. If you're the nearest one, you learn that. You just get everybody. I didn't care what was happening on the court - I was making sure no one left the bench."
Backup guard Rasual Butler also left the bench, but he won't suffer any consequences, either.
The Phoenix Suns' 2007 playoff chances were hurt when Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench during a Western Conference seminfinals playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs when Spurs forward Robert Horry knocked Suns point guard Steve Nash out of bounds and onto the scorers table.
With the series tied 2-2, Stoudemire and Diaw both were suspended for Game 5. The Spurs won that game, closed out the series in Game 6 and went on to win the NBA championship that season.
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