So egregious?
I give it the twitter test. When I went on twitter yesterday, when it was announced that Pop had sent all those guys home (and before Stern had sent everything), it was blowing up with comments about it. It had become a major story. To me, that means that it a significant enough stray from the norm that it is worth addressing.
If Doc sits KG for a game, there will be a note of it, but it won't be the topic of conversation of every basketball writer in the league, no matter what team they are covering. But, when you send your 4 best players home before a nationally televised game against the best team in the league, that is noteworthy, and therefore crossing the line IMO.