Quote Originally Posted by g-money View Post
Sorry CDu, I guess in my mind the instigator deserves the same punishment as the retaliator. Hence my use of the word equitable. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.

It's like my kids. When kid #1 smacks kid #2, it's almost always in retaliation for something that kid #2 did. My solution? Give them both a time out.
We'll have to agree to disagree. But to clarify, I don't think Hansbrough's hard foul should be viewed as instigation here. It was a hard playoff foul that bordered on dirty. The appropriate response was another hard playoff foul that bordered on dirty - not an intentional, two-handed shot to the face with no other intent but to hit the face.

Hansbrough got punished for his transgression. Haslem got punished for his transgression. Punishing them equally is, in my opinion, the lazy way out. Also, it just enforces the idea that the "retaliatory" player should go ahead and get his money's worth.