so A_3PO, you seemed to back off your it was intentional thing and just say the league has to punish him. i can buy that, b/c maybe they do have to police stuff like this, but to argue it was intentional seems silly. durvasa nailed it, he means to swing like that b/c he and others have been doing it forever, but he's not trying to hit a guy in the face. it was mentioned the first time, how good would you have to be to concentrate on making a game-winning shot, get blocked by surprise, nail a guy in the face that you don't even see at the time, and then concentrate back on the ball and get a second shot off. that's a long way to go to assume it was intentional and not just an exaggerated flop to draw a foul, which jaric understands perfectly (i guess now we can't even use what he says b/c he must be lying, that certainly helps your side). watch players especially when they get stripped on the way up on a jumper, they all flail their arms. especially when they do that "hold the ball down low under the defender's arms, then come up through the defender's arms to get the foul" thing, they all flail around on that. but again, usually the defense is in front of you, so you don't hit anything. manu and jaric were beside him, right in the "flail zone" so to speak. i mean if the only two people he had clocked were bowen and bell, i could maybe see people saying it was intentional, but manu and jaric? does the kobe/jaric bloodfeud run that deep and we just don't know about it? is kobe really thinking, well i know i got suspended last time and it'll probably happen again, but if jaric happens to block me from the side, i'm gonna elbow him in the face just for fun, even though i'll get suspended, b/c i hate him that much. come on. it's an instinctive flopping/flailing thing, there's no way he's looking to take out marko jaric just so he can get suspended and not get to play. well obviously not when he shoots b/c he doesn't shoot, but when he rebounds. he's nailed countless people, opponents and teammates alike, over the years swinging his elbows around. far more than kobe. he can't just be oblivious to the fact he ends up hitting people. why is kobe obviously doing it on purpose and deke isn't? i would say they are both instinctive and unintentional but reckless. deke probably just grabs rebounds and starts swinging to clear out space, but he's hit a lot of people that way. kobe flails to get a foul call, and hasn't hit anyone yet, but has done it twice now so he'll have to change. both do damage that isn't normally done to other players, even if unintentional, so they both fall into the same category. uhh, probably b/c it's not intentional and he can't even see the guy to figure out where to him them. if kobe was just going to go around hitting people in the face on purpose to get suspended, wouldn't he have done it at some point before now in the 10 years he's been in the nba?
Guys that have had two knee surgeries in 3 years and have over 30,000 career minutes played in the NBA who can't jump anymore and can't stand having their shot blocked. Kobe is dirty, and his skills are fading. Can't jump like he used to, gets tired more easily, and he can't play defense for anything any more. Reality is tough without Shaq, huh Kobe? NO RINGS FOR YOU!!!!!! The NBA did the only thing it could, it suspended a repeat offender. The only thing they should have done differently is made it two games, and not one. But at least some measure of justice was served. He did miss one game.
the fact is the lakers lost that game in double over time WITH Kobe scoring 40, and winning is all that matters, and don't feel sorry for kobe, he has been suspended 5 times in his career for similar feats, and quite frankly, i think he deserves no sympathy for his actions.
As I explained in the other thread, intent has NOTHING to do with the punishment. Ronnie Nunn stated again yesterday on his show that many players have done exaggerated motions for years, like when a player flails his arms after getting stripped trying to draw a foul. Intentional or not, Kobe has to stop doing this habit because the result is clear: he's whacking guys in the head with force. And when you whack someone in the head with force, and it's an unnatural unnecessary action, you will get suspended until you change your ways. The NBA is really trying to cut down on this stuff. Like if you drive the lane, get stripped and flail your arms...that's just idiotic. Nowadays, if that flailing motion knocks someone in the eye, you're gonna get suspended.
I reall dont think you can call that intentional- this is a par of getting the additional point- if it is Kosher in the paint to do that, why have an issue on the perimeter? Sure- if this caused injury I am ok- but this "big Brother" attitude of NBA after the fact is just not fair. Will they redo all the blatantly bad calls and change the game results? We are down a slippery slope. In every sport there is human error- otherwise we can just have robots doing the work. A s long as it is reasonable and even handed we should be OK with that- but this after the fact, reviews etc are disturbing.
It's an unnatural motion, but I have seen alot worse. Remember when Karl Malone used to knee players in the groin when they tried to block his shot? That's an unnatural shooting motion. I agree with the suspension. Their are alot of things you could get away with in the 80's, that you can't get away with now.
He admitted himself he swung his arm intentionally so there you have it. He's paying the consequences for his action. Next time he better start using his brain instead of flopping for the cause.
Jeebus guys, intent doesn't matter when it comes to suspension. Kobe is being suspended because of the following: 1) He hit the guy in the head in an unnatural basketball act. (This is equivalent to Reggie's kick and Karl Malone's knees, and anybody who flails when they get stripped) 2) Force. If he the action is not forceful, harm cannot be caused, but because Ronnie Nunn, the director of officials, has deemed Kobe's swing as "forceful", then he is suspended. Nunn also stated Technicals should have been called. Without the element of force, there would be no suspension. But because of force, the opposing player becomes susceptible to injury. Personally, I don't think he's intentionally trying to cause harm, but I do believe he's intentionally trying to cause contact to draw a foul, but it's neither here or there. It's all about the action and result when dealing with officiating and suspensions.
You can see this happen to other players. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vFPz2KrrNME&mode=related&search= Watch mcgrady's arm http://youtube.com/watch?v=VIcBoDAsgk8 5:33 Gilbert flail's his arms http://youtube.com/watch?v=wzPoQ28nK_M 2:12 and 3:10 There is a bunch of examples, he's definately not the only one. In fact I recall cook hit a knicks player the same exact way kobe hit manu/jaric.
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