Instead, Thomas found himself once again put on the defensive by NBA sanctions - this time his 2-game suspension handed down Saturday. In his first public appearance since the suspension was announced, Thomas vigorously defended himself and his team against a growing perception, fueled by the NBA's actions, that he believes is both misguided and unfair.

Thomas

"I don't agree with it, I don't understand it and I think it's been very excessive," Thomas said. "I understand if you're cracking down on acts that are excessive. Show me where we have been excessive to deserve multiple-game suspensions. Are you cracking down on violence? Are you cracking down on fighting? Or are you cracking down on arguing? ...

"I've seen a lot of coaches come out on the floor, and they argue and protest and they get thrown out of the game. I haven't seen a coach come out on the floor, argue a game, get tossed out of the game, then the league reviews it and he gets a multiple-game suspension. Show me where that has happened."

Thomas was suspended for "escalating an on-court altercation" between the Pacers' Al Harrington and the Raptors' Morris Peterson in Toronto on Friday night. All three were ejected. Thomas learned of his suspension Saturday afternoon and assistant Brendan Malone filled in for the 109-100 victory over Boston that night. Malone will serve as acting head coach again Tuesday night when the Pacers face the Los Angeles Lakers in the last game before the All-Star break.

It was the second major sanction in a week. Forward Ron Artest was suspended four game on Tuesday for a series of incidents, including taunting the Heat bench, flipping middle-finger gestures to the crowd and a flagrant foul against Caron Butler, in Miami on Monday night.

"I won't say the NBA is against us," Thomas said. "I think the officials enjoy officiating our games. From every place we've gone this year, the fans like the way we play the game. Coaches have made comments that they like the style we play. If you look at all these incidents, we have never been the aggressors. We've always been defending ourselves. I can go all the way back to Reggie Miller getting in fights with Kobe or Derrick Coleman and getting suspended. We're always in situations where we're defending ourselves. Artest has never thrown a punch at any player. Now, there are some things he's done off the court that we're all working on and he's working on those things. But when you talk about us being a team that's playing outside of the lines, where is that happening? Show me proof and evidence of that happening in terms of us instigating or starting fights.

"We play basketball and we play it the right way. When things get to the review process, that's when things have been looked at differently. I think the officials have done a good job of officiating our games and have been fair when they've called technical fouls and flagrant fouls are judgment calls and you can't really argue those things. ... There's nothing cheap or dirty about the things we've done here."

Walsh

Team President Donnie Walsh said he planned to meet with owners Herb and Mel Simon to get their input on the situation, but that doesn't mean the franchise is planning any action in response to the sanctions. There is no effective appeal process.

"We accept what's happened whether we agree with it or not," Walsh said. "I want to sit down with ownership and see how they feel about these things because we really haven't done that yet. It doesn't apply that we're going to appeal any further or anything like that.

"I like the way the team's played. I like the way the team's been coached. We're 34-14 and we will be the best team in the East going into the All-Star break. I don't think anybody feels like we're an unusually aggressive team as far as creating incidents or anything like that throughout the year. This last week there's been an awful lot of attention on that because of the (penalties) that were delivered. On the one hand I know we're not the Bad Boys; I know we're not completely blameless in every situation but I don't like the label that's all of a sudden been placed on us because I think it's unfair."

Thomas said he agreed with his ejection, but that's as far as the NBA should've gone.

"I don't remember a time when you get suspended multiple games for arguing," he said. "Artest, his situation in front of the Miami bench, that was an argument. Nobody threw a punch. Nobody swung at anybody. Definitely my situation, I don't agree with it at all.

"It's been grossly unfair and excessive in terms of this situation. ... I got tossed out of the game and I should've gotten tossed out of the game. I wanted to thank (official) Steve Javie for tossing me out of the game because at some point you've got to do things to motivate your team. I'd like to know what did it escalate into? No one had a fight. No one threw a punch. If you're not allowed to argue, protest and disagree and you get multiple-game suspensions, I don't agree with that and I don't think I've ever seen that in the NBA."

The seeds of this reputation may have been planted by Dallas coach Don Nelson, who called the team's style "dirty" and described some of the players as "beasts" who are trying to injure opponents in a recent edition of Sports Illustrated.

"I haven't heard one time a player come out - a player - call any of our players dirty, cheap or whatever," Thomas said. "That has always come from someplace else. It doesn't come from the players in the league. It doesn't come from the officials in the league. All those things have come from outside the playing field."

Thomas and Artest both will return to the team for the Feb. 11 home game against Cleveland.