NBA commissioner David Stern discussed the way Rajon Rondo bumped official Marc Davis during Sunday night's playoff opener against the Atlanta Hawks during a radio interview with ESPN's Colin Cowherd. Whether Rondo receives a suspension for his actions should ultimately come down to whether the NBA decides the bump was intentional.
NBA rules dictate that any player who purposely makes contact with an official receives an automatic suspension of at least one game. Rondo claims he tripped and did not mean to chest-bump Davis, but the contact was obvious to everyone, including Stern.
Stern's comments, via ESPN Boston:
"I don't want to pre-judge on what the recommendation is going to be," Stern said. "But as a fan, he obviously bumped him. And you know what happens with respect to that."
"We have a hard and fast rule," Stern said. "Unless somebody trips you and sends you into him, nobody touches a referee. That's the proposition."
NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson -- not Stern -- hands down player punishments. Jackson will have to decide Rondo's intentions when he approached Davis.
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