United-36ers saga: Tipping point or just another bump in the road?

Plenty of questions have been raised on the back of the situation between Melbourne United and the Adelaide 36ers, but what is the actual reality of the incident?

Credit: Daniel Bennett

In the last two weeks, we have witnessed a level of debate and discussion not often seen in the NBL.

The Melbourne United and Adelaide 36ers incident has refuelled a rivalry that hasn’t seen such fire since the days of Julius Hodge stomping on the Brett Maher signature on the floor of the now Adelaide 36ers Arena.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, or even if you sit on the fence itself, the biggest fallout in the context of the season is the suspensions dished out to Montrezl Harrell (three games) and Kendric Davis (two games).

At around the halfway point of the season we’ve already seen a number of players miss out on games due to suspension, including Freddie Gillespie (one game, headbutt), and Rob Edwards (one game, actions and comments towards a referee). It raises a few interesting questions, is the league coming down harder or not hard enough? And, has player behaviour become worse than before?

The answer? None of the above.