Stu Jackson, the former head of NBA player discipline, believes Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas should draw a one-game suspension for hitting Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder in the head Friday night.

Jackson appeared on NBA TV after the controversial play, which took place during the first quarter of Boston's 111-103 Game 3 win. Asked to guess the outcome of the situation, Jackson replied, "Well, this should not be a guess."

"The rule here is very clear," Jackson said, "and it's a very bright line, albeit that you're making a decision on a very key player in this playoff series. And for that reason it makes it difficult but the league office is supported by the rules that all the teams and all the players are very aware of. And in my mind, he will get suspended for one game."

After the game, Thomas said he did not fear any additional punishment because he did not mean to hit Schroder. Jackson believes the Celtics point guard's explanation may not sway the NBA league office.

"I hear what Isaiah is saying," Jackson said. "At the same time, if you look where the incident took place on the floor, in transition, it's rare for a player to stop at that point on the floor, extend his hand and swing and make contact with a player. So if you're waving to somebody in the crowd or a teammate, or motioning to a coach, I think that that reasoning doesn't really hold water for me. So again, I think they'll look at this. This is really tough. The fact that Isaiah is trying to absolve himself of any culpability here is not unusual. It's unfortunate that it happened and the contact wasn't severe, but it did happen and the rule is clear that he swung and in this case made contact with the player and should be suspended."

Jackson said the NBA will "review the game in its entirety" and likely "conduct an investigation by talking to both of the players as well as the officiating crew on the staff, and they'll arrive at a decision before the next game as to whether or not the player will be suspended."

"I can't predict what the outcome will be although when you look at the play, it clearly is not a basketball play," said Jackson. "There's no reason for Isaiah Thomas to extend his arm, swing it and make contact with Schroder's head in that situation, and the rule on this is very clear: if a player swings with an open hand or a closed fist -- whether or not he makes contact or not -- two things are supposed to happen. One is the player's supposed to be ejected from the game, and then secondly the player is subject to an automatic one-game suspension. Now you do have some cases where the referee doesn't see the play during the game, but upon postgame review the player would be automatically suspended."

Jackson's comments and Thomas' contact to Schroder's head can be seen in the video above. The Celtics needed a career-high 42 points from Thomas to take Game 3 and pull within 2-1 in the series, and would be in serious danger without their star scorer.