I thought it was bad, but couldn't Harden just go to his right? He didn't have to PURPOSELY walk into Ron. Ron's ghetto, and he's been listening to Chuck talking about how he has to have Kobe's back because he's the tough guy on his team.
Do you know the distinction between an elbow (which is quite common in the NBA) and a high elbow? There is a WORLD of difference. Deliberate high elbows have malicious intent, especially when you **** and load the way Artest did. Another thing is when playing basketball, a player knows instantly when they accidentally elbow someone else in the skull. It's instinctive to turn around and make sure they are OK. Ron Ron knew exactly what he did and tried to play it off. That is a dead giveaway.
Is it wrong for NBA players to "purposely walk into" each other? It only happens hundreds of times a game, including inbound plays after baskets.
Yeah I don't know why people think I'm defending it, I just think he didn't go out of his way to elbow Harden in the head or that his intent was to deliver a Jon Jones Elbow (which it definitely was) I think a reason why he doesn't go check on him is because everyone is a bit confused at the time...seemingly even Ron Artest, and then Ibaka is going at him...then he goes and stands on the other side of the court either to cool off or because he probably feels bad about it and isn't sure what to do. People are going to have a different perspective but STOP trying to say "Definitely" and people need to stop trying to pretend to be in his head. A bunch of things were going on right after that and most of it was confusion.
But is it fake only because it's Durant and you know he won't do anything? I dont think it matters if he was going after him again or not. How do you not react when your teammate just got dropped by an intentional elbow to the head? Artest continued to trot past Durant and Durant just stood there.
And no one is arguing that. But if people are thinking that he meant to knock Harden out and give him a concussion then I don't think so.
I'm not sure the OKC players clearly understand the magnitude of what happened right away. We know for a fact Artest and Harden did. When Harden stayed down, the fracas ensued. Regardless, KD isn't going to attack Artest. He's not stupid and doesn't want to get suspended. Good for him.
Artest should and will get suspended, but I don't think he meant clock him that hard. It looks like he got carried away celebrating, and was doing one of those "get off me" shoves/brush offs... and just caught Harden right in a really vulnerable spot. He reverted to idiot mode for a moment, we all knew it would happen sometime.
That's all that matters. Otherwise there's no point. If the 4 other Thunder players on the court "reacted", it could have turned into a brawl. Why is that a good thing?
Dude seriously? There is NOTHING to discuss here. Harden getting in Artest's way is frankly a r****ded argument. Doesn't justify getting elbowed in the neck. Got any other theories?
This was completely unintentional. Just a case of sedentary low energy people not being able to understand the need for "celebration". He'll get a suspension, but molehills will be made into mountains because of Artest's reputation. I see this all the time in the hood and no malice is meant.
Couldn't Artest have NOT thrown an elbow? Couldn't Artest have NOT celebrated a basket made in the first half? Harden was in Artest's position because that was the closest place to the inbounder. I'm not sure why everyone is saying "oh, if Harden didn't run into Artest, Artest wouldn't have gone bat**** crazy." That argument is invalid.
