I know it really wasnt a fight, but what about when Karl Malone threw that NASTY elbow at the back of David Robinson's head there by knocking him the #%&* out. In my mind, that solidified Malone's status as the dirtiest/cheapest player in NBA history.
Referring to Miller vs MJ, 1992: No, it did not happen. What happened was that Miller was trash talking and after he made a layup over Jordan, he bumped chests with MJ. Jordan didn't like it and he went after him and Miller wrapped him up. Jordan scratched down the length of Miller's face and got a rabbit punch in. Miller didn't get in any punches at all. Even Kobe is too rough for Miller. Reggie grabs ahold of opponents for dear life.
Please, classic woof tickets after the fact. The intervention was seeing Washington give a near death blow to Rudy T. In reality, Murph knew better than to scrap with Washington, especially with Jabbar right there.
Robinson folded in sections like a lawn chair. Some people still actually give Malone the benefit of the doubt, but he's never admitted that his cheapshots were accidental. In college he elbowed some no-name and knocked him out. The story goes that after he did it, Malone walked to his bench while the guy was sprawled out and his coach made him go back out and show concern. For my $, the cheapest shot in history was JR Reid knocking AC Green's teeth out in 96. Religious or not, AC was a dirty player. I've seen him clothesline Malone in mid-air before. At one point, Reid stood and waited for Green to run in his reach and he turned around and gave him a fixed elbow to the face. Green bent over and picked up his teeth and handed them to the Suns' trainer like a handful of Skittles. He didn't retaliate. AC had incredible restraint and patience, if you know what I mean.
Actually, that's why street cred exaggerates stuff. Childs barely even scratched him on both punches. It's one of those fights where people remember something that didn't happen. A lot of people think Miller kicked Kobe's ass because he wrapped his arms up and ran with him over to the scorer's table.
Ah, who cares if he runs him over to the scorer's table? Kobe threw a punch at him and his response was to grab on to avoid a fight. I think most people credit Miller for that chumpy move because it was against Kobe, who most fans find more annoying than Reggie. If Reggie did the same thing to McGrady, most people would prolly be calling Reg a beyatch. It's irritating that Miller does that everytime someone's had enough of his mouth. One way or another, he doesn't deliver on all the build up.
By clean, do you mean the opposite, dirty? That punch should go down as one of the NBA's worst moments. It would have ended most players' careers...how Rudy came back and managed to play at an all-star caliber level is beyond me. BTW, for future reference, there is no reason to post 5 posts in a row.
from "the punch" Calvin Murphy, the little guard whom no one in the NBA wanted to fight, had raced past Washington to get to Kunnert, who was staggering in Abdul-Jabbar's arms. When he heard the punch and saw Tomjanovich go down, he left Kunnert and reached his best friend's side no more than a second or two before Vandervoort. Washington was a few feet away, being ejected by Rakel. Murphy stood rooted to the spot, staring first at his unconscious teammate, then at Washington. "My first thought was, 'I'm going to kill the sonofabitch,'" Murphy said. "There was no question in my mind about it. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I couldn't believe he had done that to Rudy. I saw the security people starting to take him off, and I took a step toward him, because I was going to kill him. That was absolutely my intent: kill the sonofabitch who had done that to my buddy." But when Murphy tried to put one foot in front of the other, he found he couldn't move. His legs were rubbery. It certainly wasn't fear. Murphy was one of the league's smallest men, but he was every bit the enforcer that Washington was. He had been a Golden Gloves boxer as a teenager, and unlike most of the league's players, he actually knew how to fight. Unofficially he had been in seventeen full-fledged fights during eight years in the league and had never lost. The fight that people remembered most was one against Sidney Wicks, then of the Boston Celtics. Like Washington, Wicks was 6-8 and about 225. Murphy had jumped into the air, grabbed Wicks by his Afro, pulled him down to his level, and punched him into submission. Now he stood frozen as Washington left the court. "It was an act of God," Murphy said years later. "It had to be. On any other night I would have killed him. But something happened and kept me there, right where I was. It had to be an act of God. There's no other explanation."
Clean as in perfectly centered, malicious or not. I wouldn't say it was dirty. Dirty implies intent. If he had decided to clean Rudy T's plow as he ran over, then it would be dirty. Kermit was wrong for not being able to restrain himself from swinging wildly at any blur coming towards him. That could've been Norm Nixon instead of Rudy T. Ironically, it's a still a sore spot for fans, but Rudy T and Kermit actually contact each other to this day. They've reconciled long ago. Who says there's a law against 5 posts in a row? I responded to 5 different peeps.
Talk is cheap and Murphy talks a lot. In the real world, any boxer who considers himself a badass wouldn't have just stood there claiming God must telling me not to fight. I'm not saying he couldn't fight, but for some reason, he froze and the God excuse soothed his ego after the fact. Even if he theoretically did start pounding on Kermit, there would've been a 2 team brawl in no time.
When it comes to NBA fights, Murphy wasn't cheap. At 5-9, he took on the forwards & centers of his time. I only know about 4 of his fights, but Wicks was the shortest. 10 years ago, I could name those 4 players; but now Wicks is the only one and that's because it was mentioned in this thread.
I remember Shaq slapping the crap out of Olden Polynice when he was in Detroit and Shaq was in Orlando. Shaq nailed him pretty good. Also, Robert Horry throwing his towel in Danny Ainge's face. I never liked Ainge. The best though was when Vernon Maxwell went into the stands in Portland and beat up the fan that was talking **** about his still-born kid.
The thing that bothered me most about the punch was that he showed no remorse...none at all. Not immediately following the punch, not following the game, and not until years later. I forget what his reason was, but he just kept blaming it on someone else. If I damn near ended someone's career, I would apologize on the spot. I would acknowledge my mistake(Intentional or whatever...), and ask for the guy's forgiveness. Kermit didn't do any of this. It is this stubbornness that prevented him from getting a job somewhere in the league for years. The punch didn't lead to people drawing conclusions about his character...the fact that he had no remorse did. No one has said it yet, but they will if you keep it up. I was just forewarning you...Each time you make a post, you are taking up valuable serve space. Consolidating 5 posts into one saves this space.
