on first glance it didn't look terrible, but on replay, that was a clear elbow to the throat and it was definitely intentional. i'm torn in that it would help us if kobe is gone but i don't want any excuses when we stomp them.
I could understand a defense of jockeying for position or establishing it by placing your elbow up to impede someone from getting around you easily. I can dismiss that as incidental contact, but that was a THROWN elbow. He wasn't just establishing position. Just like the elbow to Battier's head was a THROWN elbow that the league dismissed as incidental. Where's Raja Bell to incidentally clothesline this punk?
It'll look a bit shady for the league to completely overlook two straight kobe elbows. Again, I'm not sure if I want Kobe out of game 3, but what do they do with this guy who thinks he can get away with whatever he wants?
It's Kobe. Dude could stab Artest in the heart and still get away with it. Hell, he'll probably be given an medal and some flowers and suspend Artest for having too much of his blood on the court.
Kobe was never punished for raping Kate Faber in his hotel room at that Colorado resort. It's about time he gets disciplined for his comparable bullying and intimidation tactics on the basketball court. It would be a big dose of karma. I feel so dirty when I think back to how much I admired him several years ago and sided with him in his rift with Shaq. There's a reason Shaq is well-liked around the league and Kobe is a pariah.
Nothing wrong with being upset, but if you don't want to be ejected you can't go running after the player on the other side of the court to get in their face. He'd already been screaming at the referee. The "viciously" line is also a little over the top.
Nothing, because Kobe essentially can get away with anything he wants. The league has no leash for him. In general, the Lakers under Phil Jackson have never shied away from trying to commit dirty fouls, instigate fights or ejections, and generally do everything possible to try to intimidate or psychologically manipulate the other team, if it means securing the win. Kobe was chosen to be the one to try to get into Artest's head because Kobe is immune to policing by the referees. Nobody else on L.A.'s roster is afforded enough coddling and superstar treatment to get away with those elbows, so it's not surprising that it was was Kobe who was doing it. It was completely by design. NBA officiating makes more sense if you just understand the following: There are snap judgments made by the officiating crews (and especially Crawford's crews) where the referees quickly weigh the severity of a player's actions against his value as a ticket and television ratings draw. Kobe Bryant is one of the biggest draws in one of the biggest television markets in the country. So no, unless he is actively running around the court stabbing players with a chair leg, the league will look the other way. This is also all by design.
Kobe wasn't chosen for anything there. It wasn't like Jackson sent out a goon. Artest and he were battling for position and Kobe was losing, getting pushed around. When guys do that to Yao we think it should be a foul. Kobe got angry and resorted to who Kobe is, a punk. He threw a cheap shot because he was frustrated with Ron. Come on guys, let's keep this in perspective. It was definitely a cheap shot and he should be suspended by the rulebook, but let's not make it into something it wasn't. This wasn't some orchestrated hit.
Would you agree that Kobe takes liberties with his degree of physicality, knowing full well that he is immune to policing by the referees? If you're not convinced that Kobe finds the line and then crosses it when it comes to physical play, just compare his cheap shot tendencies against those of the OTHER big draw in the league, LeBron James. LBJ doesn't assault players on the other team. At all. Love him or hate him, LBJ instead uses his superstar status to get an extra step in on a drive to the basket every now and then. It usually results in an amazing layup or a thunderous dunk, and everybody's impressed and happy. League officials are generally pretty comfortable with not making that traveling call. Little birds sing and a rainbow forms on a bright, sunny day. All is right and at peace with the world. And then we have Kobe, who doesn't use the superstar double-standard to elevate his play and impress on the court, so much as he uses it as something to hide behind as he assaults and injures his coworkers. There is something wrong with that...
No, I agree he is dirty and I agree he knows he'll get away with it. I just don't like hyperbole that is being thrown around.
Did everybody see the video in the post game interviews thread ? Artest sounds like he's really sad about the refs not helping him out. Also is a bit down for getting himself ejected. Do you think Ron is faking it ? I don't think so because looking at the reply after Ron gets pushed away by Crawford and realises he's ejected you can also see the look in his eye. Not of anger but of dissapointment in the refs that they did not call it and misunderstood why he ran up to Kobe. The ejection was totall rubish and only due to Ron's history....Kobe should've been the one ejected but we will take care of it at home. P.S. Ron mentioned in the interview that he will not retaliate, that he did that enough back on the streets and earlier in the NBA
Sorry dude. .but that is complete B.S. Rocket River uhm . .the game might explode . .so let me cripple one team and reward the other one! - Joey Crawford?
There is a very small chance Kobe gets ejected. The only reason I say this is because D.Howard got suspended in a critical game when he through that beaten elbow at Samuel D. in the Sixers series. If the did it to Howard and think the league may man up and do it to Bryant. We shall see though.
There's no point to "wait and see" on the Kobe situation. Bryant wasn't whistled for a foul to begin with. Even if Stu Jackson wanted to suspend Bryant, there is no procedural hook that he could use as a starting point to do so, because Kobe wasn't even whistled for a foul to begin with. There's a procedure for elevating a flagrant I to a flagrant II after the fact. There's a procedure for turning a regular foul into a flagrant after the fact. But there is no way to get a non-call re: "inadvertant contact" turned into not just a foul after the fact, but a flagrant foul.
Kobe got suspended for this in 2007 against Ginobili. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5fgWff_Sjho&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5fgWff_Sjho&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Against Artest last game. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/irtnkEmubqY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/irtnkEmubqY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Pretty much the same type of elbow and he should get suspended imo. I think Kobe would definitely get suspended if Artest sold it like Ginobili did, but since it's the playoffs I just don't see it happening.
That's a good point, though. You don't always have to have an official flagrant foul on the books if you want to issue a melodrama- and griping-free suspension to a star player, but it sure does help.
It was really weird. I tought Ron didn't even touch Kobe and he elbowed him instead. Refs did what they did, just another horrible call. But what can we expect? 1. Game was in LA 2. Joey was the official 3. Refs usually hate on Rockets 4. It was Kobe Damn Bryant Just a horrible call, they gotta review it because for he Kobe at least should pay cash for it. DIRTY.
I have no problems with Kobe's elbow or Ron's ejection I have no problems with Kobe's elbow or Ron's ejection 2 guys fighting underneath for rebound position. Kobe elbows Ron with Ron on his back. It's just an aggressive play that happens in the NBA from time to time. I don't think it was dirty or malicious. What happened after the elbow was: 1) the refs missed the call 2) Ron made that throat slitting gesture 3) Crawford's quick hook I can understand the refs tossing Ron because of the throat slitting gesture and because he's Ron Artest. Maybe a more patient ref would have listened to Ron's explanation, but this is a man that tossed out Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench. Ron should have quit after his chat with Bryant. I think there's a line between aggressive and dirty, to me Kobe is ultra aggressive but not dirty. I wish some of our guys could enter the same zone (Yao). Basketball is a contact sport, elbows are a part of the game. PS Derek Fisher's play was premeditated and dirty, he deserves everything that's coming to him.
Check here to see the post-game interview with Ron ... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=4487944&postcount=22 TNT guys seem to really respect him for his responses.
