I think the league's punishment was forcing Kobe to play through a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Mavericks. Clearly, Kobe was trying to get suspended for that game.
Maybe PJ's punishment for Kobe was putting him back in the game with 8 minutes left and the Lakers down almost 30. That was crazy.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2795315 PHILADELPHIA -- Is the NBA looking into another wayward elbow from Kobe Bryant? According to a story in the Philadelphia Daily News, citing an NBA source, the league is looking at an elbow Bryant threw in the direction of Philadelphia's Kyle Korver late in the first half of Friday's game. Bryant caught Korver near the neck with his left elbow on a drive to the hoop, The Associated Press reported Saturday. Bryant was suspended for one game last week for an elbow that hit the fact of Minnesota guard Marko Jaric. He also received a suspension earlier this season for an elbow to the face of San Antonio's Manu Ginobli. Korver said Saturday in Indianapolis: "I didn't think it was that big a deal. I thought it was an offensive foul. After I saw it on replay, it looked a lot worse than I thought it was during the game. It all happens fast. It's no big deal. It's just part of the game."
It is NOT part of the game, it is part of Kobe being a thuggish player..... Kobe should be suspended for 5 games....make a point. Hell what do the Lakers care, it looks like they are tanking to get to the 7th seed and face Phoenix and avoid San Antonio.....they match up better with the Suns....and truthfully they could knock the Suns off......so Suspend him.....it helps the rocks and he deserves it. DD
i hate Kobe but i have never thought of him as a dirty player, even after these incidents. that's just me. ask fans around the nation if they think Mutombo is a dirty player b/c of his elbows. don't be surprised if you get a lot of yeses. as much as we love his finger wag, other teams' fans think it's outright taunting and hope he gets taht finger broken, literally.
Mutombo is awkward.....but not dirty....what Kobe is doing is intentional...what Deke is doing is just do to his being on a different rythmn than other players. Just look at how many times he has elbowed his own teamates. DD
I didn't think the first two warranted a suspension but this one was definitely a little dirty. You can't swing your elbow out to get people off of you.
Should have been an offensive foul, but suspension is a little too much IMO. Kobe's elbow on Mike Miller last season really started making me think that Kobe is a complete Bit**. I don't see how you don't get thrown out of a game for this... <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CtIZf-rDu1w"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CtIZf-rDu1w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
i think its a bid weird that the league may decide to suspend him after his national tv game with the mavs. i guess they were more interested in ratings but that backfired as the mavs trounced them pretty bad. i dont think the elbow was bad but it does warrant a suspension as it at least looked to me as an intentional move to create more space, if they give Ts for players who swing their elbows after a rebound this should be no different. the lakers want to play the suns it seems and they are real close to slipping to 7th at this point losing kobe for the next game or two will help them in that regard.
I agree its strange what the league did as far as time but Im sure just like everything else it was money motivated. With that, Kobe wasn't naturally creating space by raising his elow above shoulder level running full speed ahead. He needs to be accountable for his actions and he needs to chill out on this stuff.
This is huge... Lakers are on the verge of slipping from the 6th playoff spot to the 7th (which I certainly hope they do). Lakers lead Denver by 1 1/2 games. If Denver can bump the Lakers down (and keep them down) Lakers would have to face Phoenix in the 1st round! Down with the Lakers!!!
I'm not surprised at this. After comparing the incidents, the force of the blow on Korver doesn't merit a suspension. If he had drilled Korver with the same power as on Ginobilli or Jaric it probably would have been a multi-game suspension.
