[Game] Kings vs Rockets, 1/16/2022 3pm PT/6pm ET
- Thread starter Capt. Factorial
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It looks way worse in slow motion than it does in real-time. Mathews' momentum is traveling forward and Fox stopped the ball which caused Mathews legs to move forward at a faster rate than his upper body. The same thing happens if you go for a dunk and hit the rim. Your legs keep traveling forward and you land on your back.
That's an unfortunate play and I'm glad Mathews was able to get up and walk it off but the contact wasn't unnecessary (he was going for a block and hit the ball before he hit any part of Mathews' body) and it wasn't excessive either. Smaller players are taught to swipe at the ball on the gather against taller players which is what Fox was trying to do in mid-air. Worst case you look at the contact after the play (which looks to me like Mathews losing his balance and falling back into Fox) and you call it a flagrant 1. It shouldn't have warranted an ejection.
It's ironic though since people on this board have been clowning Fox all season for jumping out of the way instead of initiating contact when he's the only defender back on a fast break.
That's an unfortunate play and I'm glad Mathews was able to get up and walk it off but the contact wasn't unnecessary (he was going for a block and hit the ball before he hit any part of Mathews' body) and it wasn't excessive either. Smaller players are taught to swipe at the ball on the gather against taller players which is what Fox was trying to do in mid-air. Worst case you look at the contact after the play (which looks to me like Mathews losing his balance and falling back into Fox) and you call it a flagrant 1. It shouldn't have warranted an ejection.
It's ironic though since people on this board have been clowning Fox all season for jumping out of the way instead of initiating contact when he's the only defender back on a fast break.
This is where I think the slow motion is deceiving. The refs may have interpreted that left hand contact as a wind up and swing but watch it at game speed and Fox was trying to stabilize his own balance with his left hand and Mathews fell backwards into his hand as much as his hand landed on Mathews. If you're going to take the ball hard at the basket expecting to dunk it and there's a defender in the way you should anticipate contact. The way that play was officiated, the only thing Fox could have done was jump out of the way. Is that how we want basketball to be called? Normally on a play like that the angle of the offensive player carries them into the defender which stops the lower body from rotating. It was just a weird play because they were almost perpendicular to each other and Fox stopped the ball without stopping Mathews' body.
I understand there's a desire to protect the players but when you're running and jumping at full speed around other people you're going to get hurt sooner or later by landing awkwardly. Not every injury requires a villain. If you want to look at the amount of contact and the hard fall and rule it worthy of a flagrant, fine. But don't eject the defender for making a legal basketball play because the guy landed bad.
I understand there's a desire to protect the players but when you're running and jumping at full speed around other people you're going to get hurt sooner or later by landing awkwardly. Not every injury requires a villain. If you want to look at the amount of contact and the hard fall and rule it worthy of a flagrant, fine. But don't eject the defender for making a legal basketball play because the guy landed bad.
There was a push and a left arm extension from Fox on the supposed falling back you're talking about that could have been avoided. Again, intent is not part of the call. Agree it could easily have been called a flagrant 1 as well. Ingles also got ejected against us earlier for running under one of our guys, and I'm sure Jazz fans didn't think that warranted a flagrant 2 either.
Let's try an experiment: We both jump off a roof 12 feet (onto grass) and I'll give you a push while we're both falling through the air. Let me know how much faster it makes you fall. Or we would also try one where I pull back your right arm and you try not to rotate your left arm forward to compensate. It would take a hell of a lot of willpower to override your brain's automatic gyroscopic programming but maybe after 2 or 3 attempts you could get yourself to do it just to prove me wrong. Bottom line for me is that the refs interpreted intent on that play because the slow motion looks rather horrendous and they don't seem to understand physics.
Not that it matters but in the last 2 min. the NBA is saying the refs missed 2 fouls that should have been called against the Kings. The first was when Davion defended that pass that ended up in a steal. He hit his wrist. The other was the obvious foul on Metu where he drilled Gordon across the head.
And that's where you keep not seeming to understand that intent is not part of the criteria in making the call. I'm not sure how many times they repeated that on the broadcast. The refs rightly or wrongly, looked at the play, and in their minds felt that such amount of contact could have been avoided. That's all. Doesn't matter what Fox was or was not trying to do. I happen to agree with them that it was unnecessary, but I'd say there's a debate to be had whether or not it was excessive. It's a far cry from "he just fell into Fox's hand" though.
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