I wouldn't say that they're "letting them play," but I'll be damned if this game isn't physical as hell!
[NBA] West Playoffs, Round Two
- Thread starter Mr. S£im Citrus
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fansinceday1
Starter
Omg ja………
fansinceday1
Starter
You know who’s gonna take the shot and GS still can’t stop him.
The kid is GOOD
The kid is GOOD
chief bromden
Starter
Morant with the egregious carry, no call. Klay called for travel on next possession. Lol NBA
fansinceday1
Starter
umpires miss strikes and call them on other players. NFL refs let superstars get away with stuff others don’t get away with. NBA refs do the same. Still doesnt change how good Ja is.
chief bromden
Starter
Glad the Grizz pulled this out, I'd like this series to go 7
chief bromden
Starter
Didn't say anything about how good Ja is, I laughed at the NBA and it's irony.
captain bill
All-Star
Klay D on Ja game 1 final play looking that much more impressive
you know why.
Draymond grabbed Clarke's jersey and pulled him down, while Brooks was going for a block and made contact with the head instead.
Is there another reason?
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
He didn’t even go for the ball
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
That happens to the KINGS each and every game. Not saying it keeps them from winning, but it surely is frustrating to watch the opposition travel and carry with impunity while our team gets called for lesser infractions.
Half the league today wouldn’t near as productive if the rules were applied consistently and fairly. The bearded hag wouldn’t have had much of a career. Nor those using the euro step and 3-4 step step backs as their go to moves.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Watching that play and the reaction to it makes me appreciate the old school players that played through it. MJ had to endure the “Jordan Rules” which wasn’t all to dissimilar from that play. Hard fouls anytime he drove the paint.
I wish the NBA could find a happy medium somewhere in between the old school thug game and today’s no hand check limited contact ballet.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Ja was right on cue with his 47/8/8 outburst.
Sad thing for the Griz is that they are a missed layup away from a 2-0 lead.
I'm not clear, are you arguing that Brooks or Draymond didn't go for the ball?
You're proving my point and not serious here, Cap?
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
both arguably weren’t going for the ball but Brooks’s foul was a simultaneous headshot/push in the lower back while a guy was defenseless in the air and resulted in the dude screaming in agony on the floor because it turns out he broke his elbow in the fall. Even without litigating the results of the respective fouls, one still seems much more egregious than the other.
Draymond's intentions at the end of the play weren't entirely clear - yes he grabbed the jersey but was he bringing him down or trying to stop it from serious injury by the end of it. Letter of the law, eject him, fine. Reputation a factor? Absolutely.
Brooks deserves to be suspended until Payton returns (or at least the length of the series if they advance).
I wouldn't complain about a flagrant 2 on Brooks, as it looks to meet all the criteria (mostly the windup). Watching it multiple times I don't put much stock in the lower back push, that doesn't look like there was much force there at all. And hey, nobody wants to see a guy break his elbow.
But what Brooks did looks to me like a basketball play, and if he got the timing right we'd call it an amazing chase-down block. He missed. But I don't think he was trying to hurt Payton, or intimidate him, or play dirty. He just went for a great block, missed it, and as a result got the F2. And yes, Payton got hurt, but it looks like an accident to me.
That basically is calling for an end to the chase-down block, isn't it? If you try and something goes wrong, you're out for months. I mean, I guess that's not an unreasonable position to take, but I'm not ready to go there.
I feel like you are being generous to Brooks here because he did a little more than "miss" a block. Not only did he pretty much clobber him in the head he then swung his hand recklessly back and appeared to hit him a second time (probably not intentional and after watching the replay a dozen times it may not have been what it first looked like). This is like claiming football and hockey players wouldn't be able to tackle/check because you outlawed spearing. It's a "know it when you see it" level of wrong that I don't think prevents reasonable on-ball play from occurring.
Also, Morant already deliberately fouled Payton on this play. Arguably you could prevent stuff like this by awarding both fouls by rule as well.
It's not like I'm a Brooks fan or anything - dude seriously irritated me at Oregon. But I've watched it a bunch of times too, and it just doesn't reach "know it when you see it" for me. But it sounds like we would agree that "know it when you see it" is a better standard on a play like this than something stricter that takes away the opportunity for a play on the ball there.
That's actually a pretty good idea. I've always looked a bit sideways at the fact that after the whistle there can be additional contact for free (as long as it doesn't elevate to F1/F2 level it's just...nothing).
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Only if you’re working under the assumption that Brooks was making a full-hearted effort for the ball instead of a half-assed swipe at the guy’s arm with both feet firmly on the ground while making absolutely no attempt to avoid causing the guy bodily harm.
Even if the play weren’t intentional, it was a recklessly dangerous play that has no place in modern basketball now that sports medicine has advanced enough to tell us blows to the head of a defenseless guy aren’t great (not that they didn’t know in the 1980s)
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