At first, I thought Ariza got ball and then tangle with arms (blurry stream tv). But ESPN replay clearly shows Ariza got heat-ball-arms. So, by definition, the foul is a flagrant 2. I dont think Ariza had any malicious intent thou. But might be Ariza should have a more apologetic attitude when Fernandez got hurted. Luckily, Fernandez should be fine. Fernandez will be back to the court in 2 weeks.
There is no way in hell you can tell he was aiming for his damn head. You do know you man time your jump wrong, only Ariza truly knows the intent.
Its a good thing that play didn't happen in front of the Portland bench or Ariza would be at the dentist right now have new teeth installed. I don't understand how you guys are defending this play. Clearly you don't understand the context of when the play occured. It was a 28 freakin' point game!!
It looks like Fernandez actually lost his balance when their arms tangled, and not when he was hit in the head. A little too much hustle and some bad luck.
Why would you swing at someones head with your elbow? Ariza's hands were up around Rudy's arms and the ball...Yes, he swung hard, but to say he was going for his head is nothing short of stupid.
I saw hand-ball, elbow-head, hand-arm. not defending the play but it was more accidental than flagrant in my opinion.
IMHO, this is a flagrant 1 at most. Yes it is out of frustration but we used to see A LOT worse in the playoffs and only gets called a as a foul. As for the picture DD, as a guy that has done more than my share of video editing, sometimes when guys are moving that fast, people's eyes are about a second off. No doubt he got his head but he got a lot of ball also.
before I saw it I thought he cracked his skull or something... didn't look as bad as I thought it was. He just got fouled hard and unlucky for him, he's not built like typical nba players. I don't see landry falling to the ground like that if he get's slapped upside the head.
You know have you ever play a real basketball game? Sometime when you're going full speed and trying to stop someone with the ball , you can't guarantee you will knock the ball away and mistake like these happens. Ariza deserved the flagrant but not like he wanted to aim for rudy's head like you said Kwame.
That is what I am thinking too. He didn't bump anything that hard, except his arm. Watch out that kid. He is quite sneaky.
Haha, oh wow a perfectly logical response. Definitely a flagrant 1/2, but nothing warranting a suspension.
What the hell are you talking about? You fall 4 feet out of the air after you've been spun around while running full speed and tell me how it feels when you land. I'm sure you'll get right up with a smile on your face. If nothing else the air was knocked out of him and surely it scared the ***** out of him.
It didn't look like a flagrant 2. Fernandez fall was awkward as hell and while it wasn't the cleanest "intentional foul", I don't think it was strictly a dirty play. I don't care much for Ariza or the Lakers, but that's more of a freakish fall by Fernandez than a blatant flagrant 2 by Ariza.
