Kevin Love intentionally steps on Luis Scola's face

It don't matter sonny, Yao was targeted on account of Stern

 

Scola needs to stop flopping around like a fish and he won't get stepped on. That said, that should warrant a one or two game suspension imo.

 

Stay off the ground flopping and you don't get stepped on.Scola was shooting the ball and flopping to the ground getting foul calls vs playing thru it. The rockets as a whole are soft and flop too much with scola being the king of it. Stay off the ground.

 

It seemed like Love's shin hit Scola's face (which caused Scola's head to jerk), and Love was trying to tap Scola's chest area with his foot. The foul that wasn't called when Scola hit the ground, to me, was much worse than the foot tap. I'm actually more mad at the refs for not calling anything there. Love was obviously still pissed about being beaned in the nuts by Scola. To me, it's much less of a despicable act than beaning a woman with a basketball twice in two fits of rage.

 

Intentional and warrants suspension. How many games? Don't we play Minn again this month? The 17th? So he could be suspended and not play that game? Could factor in how many games he is (if) suspended - whether it is better he sits that one out - otherwise risk another confrontation?

 

This. HOMERUN.

 

Oh, please. What bull ****. Yes, Scola flops. He's far from the only player on the team that does, and certainly far from the only player in the league that does, but he does flop. However, the play in question did not involve a flop. b**** at him all you want, Leeb, but if you're going to b****, have a reason to do so. I don't think that's asking to much, is it?

 

Scola does flop a lot but on that play, Kevin Love hit him across the forearm and should have got a foul called against him. I don't think Scola flopped on that play.

OTOH, I don't know if Love's stomp was intentional. He seemed to be losing his balance and landed on Scola's face.

The best way to handle situation like this one is to get back up and hit Love hard on the very next play. When the ref does not call fouls, you resolve it like you would at a pickup game.

 

To the guys acting like Scola is somehow the problem here, I question and pity your Rocket fandom.


It is very, very easy to see who the true Houston fans are in this thread, and it is sad to see that it is mostly old battleproven Clutchfans...

 

If a player ever decides to go after low in almost cut block manner or it happens accidentally, and ends up breaking one of his kness (ACL, MCL, PCL).

He could've seriously hurt Scola, like that. There were some people saying it wasn't intentionally, but they had been going at it pretty heavily. It was intentional, because that play was avoidable.

 

Imagine, if that were him stepping on a player, intentionally or not. He would've been banished from the NBA.

 

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/05/the-kevin-love-stomp/?ls=iref:nbahpt2

Most of the comments on Sekou Smiths article are way off base, and highly critical of Scola...smh.

here is a sample:


46 Comments
Neo
February 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm
I was at that game. I saw it. I also saw the video. Im glad scola wasn’t seriously hurt but this was hardly a flagrant foul. As for the punishment police if they want to discipline love for that they should discipline scola for the “unintentional” groin push last week on love and the groin/abs head butt he did to Rubio in the 4th quarter. But that is only if you want be fair.

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Chuck
February 5, 2012 at 12:04 pm
It sounds like you think it’s intentional. Having tripped on many a wire in my school days, natural reaction is to step downwards so you don’t continue going forwards and fall over. It looks like he hit Scola’s arms while trying to step over him, and instinct told him to step down. Not the nicest gesture, sure, but it looks unintentional.

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John Martens
February 5, 2012 at 12:35 pm
I was at that game, directly above the supposed foul. It was a Scola flop and an unintentional step on his arm/body/chest area. A stomp? Please.

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andy
February 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I use to really like Kevin Love. But after what he did to Luis Scola last night, I totally lost all the respect I had for him. After the game, Luis was being a professional and saying that he doesn’t really care about it, but Love shouldn’t say that it was an accident after the game, because he was looking right at scola when he did that and he needs to step up and take the punishment he is going to get for doing that. I understand that it can get physical on the court sometimes, but that’s not the right way to end on what happened. Kevin Love needs to step up and apologize to the media on what he did to Luis Scola and stop trying to get away from what ACTUALLY happened.

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rl17
February 5, 2012 at 7:12 pm
“Love, who apologized to Scola after the game, not surprisingly said he didn’t think the play merited a further action. “It was one of those plays,” Love said. “You look at it, and you might think otherwise.””

Love did apologize to Scola. Why does he need to tell the media?

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neil
February 5, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Are you guys kidding me? They were going at it the whole game and it’s obvious it was intentional! He saw that Scola fell, turned towards him, and then stepped on him. I still think Kevin Love is a great guy but that was on purpose. You can’t judge an athlete for what he does during an intense game. Him and Scola were battling out there. Now, the elbows Kobe used to throw is another story- that said something about the guy and I’m glad he doesn’t do it anymore.

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chris
February 5, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Scola flopped so hard there what a panty

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Adam
February 5, 2012 at 1:45 pm
It looked intentional but I don’t think it was. Looked like Love threw dude down though. Doesn’t seem like Kevin would do such a thing but he’s a physical player, how else would you average as many boards as him. I’m sure the league will do something about it. Just because league officials are getting soft. It should go back to the Bulls, Knicks and Pistons days back then they wouldn’t of replayed this video even if someone did see it. lol

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Andy
February 5, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Kevin Love is my favorite player, but I think he needs to be suspended one game. He apologized to Scola for the stomp, and Scola seems ok with it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. When Marcus Vick did the same thing for Virginia Tech way back when, it killed his football career. Love’s a great guy who leaves it all out on the court. He just made a stupid decision and should be disciplined accordingly.

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Andy
February 5, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Aside from the stomp, this was a great game. Scola and Love were going at it the entire time. The refs prob let it get a little out of hand, resulting in the stomp among other wouldbe altercations. It’s nice to see the league getting physical again, What with teams like the Pacers, Grizzlies, and the Wolves.

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Josh
February 5, 2012 at 2:16 pm
It just doesn’t look intentional. He also seemed to be letting up as he was stepping down. Anyway, this is much ado about nothing. Sorry Sekou.

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Theo
February 5, 2012 at 2:21 pm
I can’t tell about the ‘stomp’ but is nobody else seeing that ridiculous flop by Scola? I hate this in the NBA, play it like men, this isn’t soccer, if there’s not foul don’t try and make one. The integrity of our sport has been seriously diminished with the over-refereeing.

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Nick
February 5, 2012 at 2:22 pm
A few nights earlier Love cloths-lined Danny Granger after a rebound and it was very intentional!

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BelizeBoy
February 5, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Looked like it was intentional to me.

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Victoria Longmire
February 5, 2012 at 2:39 pm
If you were watching the game and the play back you could see it was intentional. He even looked backed and smiled.

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Joe
February 5, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Schola’s fault for flopping.

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Chicky
February 5, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Intentionally!? I don’t think so. Maybe Love doesn’t feel very sorry about because Scola is a very tough player who can also push and hustle. But I believe him – also after watching the replay – it was just a heat-of-the-moment and pitch.

But the comment “Love stepped on Scola’s face” is truly wrong – he stepped on his chest!

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Mirza
February 5, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Not intentional. Love wanted to step over him with the left foot, but Scolas hands held his leg, so he let the foot on Scola not to loose balance.

I really hate seeing such situations being so overblown…

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Patrick
February 5, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Scola is a good actor, his flop is not so good, he is a bit late.
Nothing bad in this action.

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Dave
February 5, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I think they both played hard last night, and this is smthing Love must regret. Players fight at the court but every action must be follow by the punishment police. They will have the last word on that issiu coz this actions can’t fall apart.

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....
February 5, 2012 at 2:58 pm
It doesn’t look intentional to me. You could see that Kevin was trying to put his feet over Scola but he had his hands up and hits his hands and so it landed on his face.

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Jesse
February 5, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Ahhh that cute, Chase Budinger can have a get stomped on friend on the Rockets now, since he got his all stomped on in a college game. That stomp was way more brutal and with out a doubt intentional.

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HonestGuy
February 5, 2012 at 3:32 pm
While I watched the video without any previous bias towards Kevin Love, it does actually seem to me like an intentional stomp. It’s not like Love was running full speed and then tripped, he was just standing there, Scola flopped and then Love (when he could’ve ran away from Scola and towards the other half) just pretends to trip and steps on Scola. Still, sometimes games get heated and I don’t think less of Love as a player, but he should be suspended imo.

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HonestGuy
February 5, 2012 at 3:34 pm
And btw, if you step on someone’s chest, you could at least apologize immediately and not “after the game”.

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Robert
February 5, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Kevin Suh

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Bob
February 5, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Love is channeling his inner Suh

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Derek
February 5, 2012 at 3:55 pm
It did not look intentional at all. Talk about the worlds biggest flop by Scola, a little tap on the forearm and all 245 pounds of Scola come flipping and crashing down like the WWE? If anything, Scola put himself in the position for that accident to happen. The NBA should not reward floppers which have completely ruined the integrity of the game in the past decade.

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al
February 5, 2012 at 3:57 pm
it was intentional he looked down at his face before he stepped on it but who cares games over.

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adam
February 5, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Im sorry, but he semi-looked down, saw scola, and then stomped. he showed no regard to it happening and if you step on someone, you know it. that was intentional.

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Mauricio
February 5, 2012 at 4:30 pm
What I want to comment is yes, maybe was intentioned or not, but the play before that one, Kevin Love got Hammered! really hard.
I wanted to comment for the first time only because I do want to point out that the Commentators in the game, from Houston, are really unprofessional. It is unbelievable that the NBA TV does not do something about it.
-90% of the calls where questioned by this people, and of course in favor to Houston
-In Spain, they dance Flamenco, not Tango. Thats from Argentina.
-Ricky gets pushed in the back, they commented that he flopped.
-All Houston fouls, where not fouls.
-All Minnesotas no calls, where fouls.
-JJ Barea got a Contract of 19 millions, for 4 years. NOT A contract of 3 years for 12 millions.
-Derrick Williams was 2nd Pick of the last Draft, after Duke’s Irving. Not 1st like this ignorants said.

Hopefully the NBA take notice these commentators that they really don’t know what they are saying.
It really affects the quality of the NBA product.

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wow dud
February 5, 2012 at 6:11 pm
yeah dude, i agree definately. The game was only broadcasted from the houston side, and it was a joke. They sounded like angry fans ranting the whole game. If I were a Houston fan, not sure I could put up with them every night..

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GHiA
February 5, 2012 at 8:04 pm
100% agree with this. Rockets announcers are so bias. Ruining a good, physical game. Rewatched this game without sounds and it was really good basketball.

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antipopsuperstar
February 5, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Looks absolutely intentional. No surprise that the people coming to Love’s defenses are T’wolves fans who are excited that a franchise mired in mediocrity finally is playing average basketball.

Love should be suspended. And when the Rockets meet the Wolves in 2 weeks, I wouldn’t doubt someone like Jeff Adrien being given extended minutes to enforce some justice on the pathetic move by Kevin Love and the following rationalization. Not only is he a b**** enough to pull a b**** move, he’s not even man enough to admit he was wrong.

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Jayjoe14
February 5, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Got tripped up.

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Andy
February 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm
As people have already mentioned, Scola put his arms up for some reason and Love’s foot got tangled up. Naturally, he stepped down to prevent himself from losing his balance.

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lowbudgetballer
February 5, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Wow what sore losers. The people coming to Love’s defense are timberwolves fans but the ones rooting for him to get suspended are obviously rocket fans. To be honest, Love did foul scola when he tried to strip the ball. He swiped pretty hard too. Is it Love’s fault that the ref’s didnt call the foul? Then Scola flopped and fell to the ground pretty hard. As big as he is, i doubt someone of his size would fall that hard from getting swiped at. Then as love was trying to run down the court and as he was trying to step over scola, scola put his arms up as if he was trying to either trip or prevent love from immediately running down court. And someone’s natural reaction would be to step down like love did with his other foot to prevent himself from falling over. And the biased comments made by the rockets commentators definitely made it seem as if it was intentional. And I agree with Mauricio. The commentators for the rockets are very disrespectful and biased. Last game, they were putting down the state of MN saying that there’s nothing there and that no one would want to live there or play ball for that city and laughing about it as their rockets were getting spanked… And of course they complained everytime the rockets didn’t get a call or if the rockets were whistled for a foul.

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Jordan
February 5, 2012 at 5:33 pm
If you think that was hard then search in youtube “Mike Batiste kicks Sasha Ozbolt”

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geoffreyt
February 5, 2012 at 5:36 pm
It’s a game of emotions both teams let it get the best of them. When players that i was going against flopped continuously it made me mad and if they were going to flop then i was going to foul them hard. If you make it look like someone threw you to the ground and you do it long enough to one guy they will eventually lose control and intentionally foul. I say 1 game suspension and some more training for officials to not let the game get out of hand.

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Matt
February 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Whether it was intentional or not, we will never know- only Kevin Love will know. The thing is why didn’t he stop running down the court. A sportsman and just a good person in general would have acted differently. Scola is one of the nicest and most humble guys you could ever meet; luckily, I have even had the priviledge of meeting him face to face. If it was Scola who was the one to stomp on Love’s face, there is no question that Scola would’ve acted differently. No disrespect to Kevin Love, he’s a great up and coming player who made a pretty nasty mistake.

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Paulsifer
February 5, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Love’s leg barely brushes on Scola’s arm… If Scola had grabbed Love, I could understand his foot coming down on his face. Love could have easily avoided that knowing that Scola was flat on the floor next to him… He looked like he was in complete control when his foot came down. Stop defending him because he is an all-star.

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sam
February 5, 2012 at 6:46 pm
i didnt read more BS then above, it was intentional, thats more then clear….to all the hardcore fans hope it happenend again and it will be loves face, maybe then your IQ is back. unbelievable

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Pats12
February 5, 2012 at 7:05 pm
If you look at it, it doesn’t seem intentional.

Scola flopped.
Love was trying to move his foot OVER Scola’s head, like ALL other NBA players do.
Scola raised his arms UPWARD instead of shielding his face, blocking Love’s foot from going forward.

Just think about it. Love was going to trip had he not tried to get his footing intact. Unfortunately, Scola’s chest was the only place his foot could go. It’s the same way Scola threw the ball towards Love’s groin the week before. They just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong times.

Love doesn’t even have any priors and hates poor sportsmanship. Remember, this is the same guy who gets hit in the groin and doesn’t fight back.

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ginobi
February 5, 2012 at 7:27 pm
as a spurs fan, i don’t care about both teams. that was intentional.

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zennn
February 5, 2012 at 7:35 pm
more of a follow-through for me.. you cant blame him for stepping down because its inevitable in my opinion

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Gusto
February 5, 2012 at 8:09 pm
You have got to be kidding me if you think Love should be suspended for that accidental situation. He lifted his leg to get over Scola as he propelled forward and Scola had his arms up to protect himself and he caught Love’s leg and Love’s foot ended up in Scola chest (not face) very briefly as it had nowhere else to go. It’s not like he stomped or even stepped on him with any real weight. It was brief and accidental. Period.

Let’s not sissify the league anymore than the powers that be already have ok.

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bruce
February 5, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Totally intentional, my guess is that you guys who say it isn’t are fans of Love and are being totally lopsided. Scola flopped, big deal…. we shouldn’t encourage violent actions just because…. he should be suspended a game imo

 

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/05/the-kevin-love-stomp/?ls=iref:nbahpt2

Stu Jackson is in charge. Forget Stern.

 

You think Jackson unilaterally metes out punishment without running it by Stern first?

 

I watched it again. KL could have avoided contact with his left foot.
He could have hopped another step with his right foot.

Believe me - if he had glanced down and seen that he was about to step on a snake that is what he would have done.

 

Thank you. I know some posters take pride in being the voice of objectivity against the homers (and sometimes they’re right) but blaming Scola for this incident is just pathetic. He did not flop on that play; he was hammered with a no call and Love proceeded to use his face as a welcome mat to add insult to injury. Any real fan would be on Team Scola.

 

Did any one see how Scola head-butted the bottom of Love's shoe? This kind of action should not go unchecked..

 

league needs to look at this....and he needs to be fined at least....

F*** love

 

@ 01:11 in that first video, Scola flops (and of course the ridiculous homer Bill Worrell claims that Love ran him over), and takes his SWEET TIME getting back up, allowing Love to get multiple offensive rebounds and finally finishing.

Scola should be upset at himself. Not only for flopping, but his lackadaisical effort to get back into the action after the flop.

 

Every single small incident?

Not sure. Valid point.