anyone have this on a youtube clip? I saw the highlights but can't tell whether it was intentional or not. YOUTUBE PLS!
I think it was intentional. kobe shot his arms out as usual when he gets blocked to try to get the foul call and then came down with his arms. there was no real way of kobe knowing where manu was of course so it will always be played off as an accident. but if you get your shot blocked in the fashion kobe there there is only a few positions where the opposing player could be. if you see kobe's motion his arms (at least when i saw it) appear to move at two different speeds i.e. two different motions and thus two different intents. on the first motion his arms going out as normal...fine trying to get the whistle on (hurts me to say this) a good play made by manu the second motion looked to be decidedly faster as his arms came down. i think at this point kobe was trying to hit manu after there was nothing called. it was luck that kobe was able to hit manu on the "follow-through" once again it looked to be intentional or just frustation that manu stopped him from being the "man" but it did not look to be accidental to me especially his reaction afterwards. most players when they do something accidently still try to show some sort of sportsmanship and help the other person up or at least look at the other guy, kobe just walked back to the bench.
Oh, you are out of your cotdamn mind if you think Kobe's dirty play is anywhere near the level of Karl Malone. Karl Malone flopped, he hit EVERYONE with his ellbow and he played very physical (read: illegal) defense. The hit on Manu was unintentional and I'm pretty sure most of his moments of "dirty play" came out of anger rather than calculated elbows to the jaw or feet under the jumper. Doesn't excuse him when he hit Mike Miller, but I'd rtaher se a player make a stupid, angry mistake than the moves that Bowen and Josh Howard and Raja Bell do.
To answer your question... Kobe Bryant was suspended by the NBA for Tuesday night's Lakers game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden for striking the Spurs' Manu Ginobili in the face on Sunday. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2748084 Though even I don't think that was intentional. Flop Ginobili strikes again!
it was intentional. I think Flopnobli flops, but Kobe smacked him in fustration. On NBA Radio, Rick Barry and Rick Karmla both said so.
After replaying it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a7TGrVIu3o) a few times, I believe Kobe was trying to secure for a rebound after he got blocked. It's a dangerous move but how it warrants a suspension is beyond me.
There was no reason for Kobe to basically punch Manu. Ive never hit someone like that after a jumpshot in my life. Kobe deserves the suspension.
I think that was a "dirty" play by Kobe. There was no intent to box off a defender for a rebound and it's silly to say that he doesn't know where Ginobili is. He might not know that his FACE was there, but that was definitely a cheap shot at someone that cost him the game, in his mind. Kobe has always taken cheap shots at people who at one moment or another, was making him look bad. His ego just gets in his way and sometimes he does these things out of anger. I think he needs to keep his emotions in control or he will really end up hurting someone or get himself hurt one day. But that play, just the RATE that he swung his right arm compared to the movement of his left arm, there should be no doubt that there were intent for it to do what it does.
I agree completely; Kobe's arms have always flailed out sideways towards peoples faces when he shoots. Impper, you live in a dreamworld. Since when has Kobe been a dirty player you ask? From about the time 9 months after his mother made woopie with Satan (AKA, the day he was born). In the eternal arguement over the merit of the antichrist most of his disciples love to ask the question, "What has he done wrong?" I refuse to get bogged down in that arguement; it isn't about what he's not, it's a issue of who he is. Kobe lacks any semblance of what moral people refer to as virtue. Seriously, I beg of you, try and identify one positive personal quality that he embodies. Impossible. Kobe will do whatever it takes to win; and as a sports spectator, I'm afraid that just doesn't inspire the masses of responsible tax paying, hard working American adults.
