Fist, elbow or forearm makes no difference. It's the act that's flagrant. CP3 struck another player between the legs.
It is clearly a punch to the nuts, there are no excuses for that move, none. If you don't see it you are just not paying attention or don't want to see it. The man has hit multiple people in the nuts over the years, this is like Suarez biting, this is just who CP3 is....and why I have hated him as a player forever....he is just a dirty player. Glad he will never win ****. DD
Yes it was a fist because you can see how his fingernails disappear and his fingers shorten when you watch it frame by frame. Also when you do it that way you can see how Paul contorts his shoulder to make sure the arm gets between his legs which definitely shows it is intentional and not an incidental attempt to create space. Finally the way he is swinging is to get power on the upward motion - again not to get his arm between them and then extend like you'd normally try to do if you were trying to create space. It was intentional. And no, you don't make a fist in basketball ever unless you are about to hit someone. The only time you need to retract your fingers is when you are going to punch someone.
Think how many times that we watched someone racking another person. Millions by now, even in slow motion. It’s just odd at best.
I am sorry, the man has a record of doing this. Hell, he tripped Harden in game 2. If you want to play contrarian, just stop wasting our time. It's stupid.
You have to give it to him. I know folks want boring wins, games again. Paul is the perfect antagonist, instigator that makes it interesting when he is playing well and healthy.
Ugh, frankly I think this reflexive accusation of “contrarianism” is embarrassing and stupid. My “schtick”, if anything, is giving players whose character are under attack the benefit of the doubt if I see a realistic alternate explanation for their actions. Particularly if my impression of them is they are decent people. Call it naive, if you like. I have no desire to go against the grain on here just to invite a deluge of “You’re stupid, shut up” posts, trust me. That would be masochistic. What’s the other explanation that I’m supposedly reacting opposite to?
So far, I’ve stayed out of this particular discussion, but that’s how you see that play, durvasa? James wasn’t “running back through him after the score.” He was running past him and turned when Paul tripped him. He may have been “running close while going past” Paul, but I’ve seen a player do that after a score only several hundred times. What I have likely never seen (well, I’ve seen it now) is the opposing player stick out a leg to trip the guy.
I get it as some people are quick to jump to the worst conclusion. But given you can see Paul's fist is closed before and after the strike - I am not sure what other evidence you want. To say that maybe people make a fist to protect their fingers when they push off is a bit weird to say the least. And that's where it feels like you are just trying to stretch vs find a "realistic alternate explanation". I mean really, you make a fist when you push off? I've never seen that in my life. Maybe when you play defense and you are trying to hold a guy with your forearm - but you aren't moving your arm. But you never swing your arm into someone with a closed fist for obvious reasons.
From the angle, I can’t see how much separation there is, but sure it looks like he’s running past. Since when does what is happening in reality and what players in the thick of competition feel is happening have to align? Even if it was the slightest brush past him, that could be enough for Paul to use it as an excuse to respond passive aggressively in that manner, as I suggested. This isn’t by any means a defense of the play. He should have gotten a tech for it, as stuff like that can easily escalate into a fight.
I’ve seen the replay multiple times already, and I don’t feel like scrutinizing it over and over. It looks like he swung out his forearm for the push off, not that he swung his fist at him. Given where the contact was, it should have been a flagrant foul. That his hand may been closed as he swung out his forearm doesn’t mean he was trying to literally punch him. There is nothing unnatural, physically, about closing one’s hand, so your insistence that it means he was looking to punch someone is weird to me. If I cared enough about this, I’d seek out clips of players doing push offs with their forearms and see how often the hand is open vs closed.
your re-tarded fuking posts are like a basement B-rate lawyer sitting at night court repeatedly asking the sitting judge to define the word "is" for you
You have already made it clear what you think of my posts. I get it. I think I’ll keep my opinions about the quality of your posts to myself. I do like the avatar.
Chris Paul is getting better at doing it like it's accidental. The college punch was too obvious. Now it's more subtle so you can't pin him down. It's the same for Draymond's nut kicking acts. BTW, is there a video on CP pulling down the guy's pants?
whatever you think of my posts, at least they are genuine, and not some contrived BS schtick constantly prodding threads w/ attention thirsty fake cuntrarian drivel
