Late justice - Kobe suspended

[Vlade4GM]

oh please. kobe is once again the poor victim, right?

how did the refs not see it? maybe because they had to make a split second decision without the luxury of instant replay, whereas the league officials who made the decision to suspend him watched the play over and over again.

all i said was if this is such an illegal move then why don't the refs call it more? why didn't they call it on that play? it's their job of noticing plays like that. i have no problem if the league wants to crack down on plays like that, i haven't said one way or another whether it was immoral to do it or not, but handing out suspensions is completely senseless and unwarranted. there are no rules that allow suspensions to be made on the grounds of unintentional contact, it's completely unprecedented. whether it was a foul or not really has nothing to do with whether the suspension is warranted and really is another discussion. kobe has shown a pattern of this arm flailing move on particular shot attempts in an attempt to draw shooting fouls (whether you consider it right or wrong is IRRELEVANT), so there is no reason to believe that the contact was intentional since he's done it before and has gotten the calls in his favor. they said that he did it intentionally and that he wasn't trying to draw a foul, which is complete BS. it was a scenario where it was the game winning shot, he wasn't looking at him, and it was a split second motion. considering that and that he has a pattern of doing this to draw fouls, to call it intentional is completely baseless.

if you're going to hark on the kobe haters for their bias, you should try to put the "kobe is god and can't do no wrong" reasoning behind as well. It's only fair.

please explain how i've argued biasly and have used a "kobe is god and can do no wrong" reasoning. i haven't stated an opinion on whether kobe should be allowed to do that move or not. i'm arguing the facts, precedences, and the rules. i'm merely defending a player because he is yet another victim of the tyranny of david stern, whom i am justly a hater of. if you want to be glad that kobe is suspended because you hate him fine, but at least admit the obvious that the call to suspend him was a bogus move by stern.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think the league looked at Kobe's history and said it was time to give him a 1 game suspension. He has a long history of his elbow hitting guys in the face. Whether this is intentional or not its bad for the league as a whole. They can't afford the other team's stars getting hurt so they give Kobe a little slap on the wrist and hope he gets the message. 1 game suspension... seriously, this is like the time you were in 5th grade and said the F word and got sent home. Big whoop.

 

[Gargamel]

I saw the play and to be honest I I don;t see how ANYONE can claim to know Kobe's intentions and frankly it does not matter he threw a extreemly wide elbow (flailing his arm is more accurate) in an aparent attempt to keep the defender (Ginobli) at a distance. Well sorry Kobe inniated contact with a defender that makes it a foul, the force makes some intent clear... Kobe knew IF anyone tried to get clse they would feel it for a few days.

Issue is the consistency of Stu Jackson's decisions (once again). Kobe himself is not the issue. Mike Miller elbowed Kobe, opening up his forehead -- no suspension. Gino elbowed Artest -- no suspension. Kobe and Artest retaliate and it's all-of-a-sudden a "unnatural basketball move". Further, Posey hacks Hinrich on a drive and gets the same suspension. Bell clotheslines Kobe (violently) and gets the same suspension. I'm not even going to go into his decisions on the Palace Brawl, Wedgie Evans, Melo, or his acceptance of Bowen's dirt.

If Stu were to be fair, firm, and consistent, there would be no complaints. One game suspension EVERY TIME someone flails an arm and hits another in the face. Don't make some halfass rationale 2 days after the fact about intent. Multiple game suspensions EVERY TIME someone is ejected for a Flagrant 2 hack. The fact that he would give 1 game for a clothesline and 15 games for what Melo did is lunacy. There is no barometer on this moron that tells us what he's gonna do.

 

[Gargamel]

Look, I know your hero just got suspended for a game. Deal with it.

Any player in the league is vulnerable to Stu's whims. Remember that. "Stuff" happens in games from time to time.

 

[Gargamel]

They can't afford the other team's stars getting hurt so they give Kobe a little slap on the wrist

If that were true, Bowen would have been punished for trying to sprain ankles. Period. Stu has different sets of standards for different infractions and for different players.

 

[vladetomiller]

how did the refs not see it? maybe because they had to make a split second decision without the luxury of instant replay, whereas the league officials who made the decision to suspend him watched the play over and over again.

.

And how many times do you think they watched the "nut cracker" tape.

 

[Variant]

I think the league looked at Kobe's history and said it was time to give him a 1 game suspension. He has a long history of his elbow hitting guys in the face.

This IMO is probably it. I personally don't think it was intentional... don't know why the league does, but Kobe certainly does do this a lot. I play basketball plenty... I've never found myself needing to flail my arms around like Kobe does after a jump shot. Maybe we'll see less of these exaggerated attempts by Kobe and others to draw foul calls, and maybe the refs will be less rewarding of this stuff in the future as part of their attempts to clean up "flops".

 

[Gargamel]

This IMO is probably it. I personally don't think it was intentional... don't know why the league does, but Kobe certainly does do this a lot. I play basketball plenty... I've never found myself needing to flail my arms around like Kobe does after a jump shot. Maybe we'll see less of these exaggerated attempts by Kobe and others to draw foul calls, and maybe the refs will be less rewarding of this stuff in the future as part of their attempts to clean up "flops".

You do realize that this was a game winning shot attempt. Would you blame anyone for trying to convince a ref of contact after the split sec realization that it got blocked? That's an age old trick. Guy got hit in the face. If it's such a bfd, have the competency to finish the investigation quicker than 2 days later (on game day). That's too much to ask for from Stupid Stu. He could screw up a cup of black coffee.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I think the league looked at Kobe's history and said it was time to give him a 1 game suspension. He has a long history of his elbow hitting guys in the face. Whether this is intentional or not its bad for the league as a whole. They can't afford the other team's stars getting hurt so they give Kobe a little slap on the wrist and hope he gets the message. 1 game suspension... seriously, this is like the time you were in 5th grade and said the F word and got sent home. Big whoop.

omg, the league can't go making rules up as they go along. if they want it to stop they have to start calling fouls on it. you can't skip the foul part and right to the suspension. there are no rules supporting unintentional contacts resulting in suspensions. it's entirely unprecedented and just downright ridiculous.

also, it wasn't an "elbow". it was a flat arm, an elbow is when your arm is bent.

 

[Vlade4GM]

This IMO is probably it. I personally don't think it was intentional... don't know why the league does, but Kobe certainly does do this a lot. I play basketball plenty... I've never found myself needing to flail my arms around like Kobe does after a jump shot. Maybe we'll see less of these exaggerated attempts by Kobe and others to draw foul calls, and maybe the refs will be less rewarding of this stuff in the future as part of their attempts to clean up "flops".

http://nba.aolsportsblog.com/2007/01/31/what-kobe-was-really-trying-to-do/

 

[Gargamel]

Ginobili drove toward the basket, leaped to shoot and caught Stoudemire in the groin with a knee as Stoudemire delivered a hand to the Spurs guard's face. "I think they're on purpose," Stoudemire said of Ginobili's leading knees. "He's a flopper and likes to cause contact."


But I'm sure it was accidental.

 

[Gargamel]

Flagrant foul assessed on Bron for contact to head and neck region: