Arizas cheapshot on Blazer Fernandez

[Lurker]

What are you talking about?  It's uh..it's TWO degrees above freezing.  Ownage!!

Damn global warming!  Ruins a good curse.

[westkoast]

What are you talking about?  It's uh..it's TWO degrees above freezing.  Ownage!!

For whatever reason I just burst into laughter after seeing this just now.  Love it.

[Ted]

If he had really intended to make a play on the ball, he wouldn't have taken a sideways tomahawk chop at at a guy leaving the ground. When you're behind a guy who's in the air, you don't take a sideways chop at them. It's chicken shit. And if someone had done that to you WoW, you'd have have gone East LA on him. Okay, bad example. As if WoW would ever be ahead of someone on a bball court.

[WayOutWest]

If he had really intended to make a play on the ball, he wouldn't have taken a sideways tomahawk chop at at a guy leaving the ground. When you're behind a guy who's in the air, you don't take a sideways chop at them. It's chicken shit. And if someone had done that to you WoW, you'd have have gone East LA on him. Okay, bad example. As if WoW would ever be ahead of someone on a bball court.

Have you ever played basketball?  Do you even watch it?  (That's the required intro used by all Lakers jock riders)

How many times have you heard an announcers talk about players not controlling the ball on a blocked shot?  If they only could have tipped it instead of sending it into the stands?  When you "tomahawk" someone on a blocked shot you are sending a message: "get that s#*t out of here".  You are not trying to hurt a guy you are trying to put doubt in his head the next time he takes a shot.  IMO Ariza was trying to send a message but not trying to hurt Rudy.

[WayOutWest]

As far as your wonderful Hi Def pictures you can't see anything, it is all just one great big blur.  You can't tell if Fernandez's right hand is touching the ball.  In the above photo it is very clear.  The ball is in Fernandez left hand, his right hand is 6-8 inches away.  He had already transferred the ball, and Ariza was hitting him.

Are you kidding?  That shot was after the initial contact, you know the contact that caused Rundy to lose the ball.  Come on, don't play games.

[WayOutWest]

...afterall it was a frickin' 20 point lead!

Don't you hate it when teams don't know enough to just rolll over and die?

Speaking of running a guy down for a spectacular block, or in this case injury.....LeBron did it AGAIN last night, although he had help from Richardsons' showboating.  The ESPN guys then stated that LeBron has done it 18 times this year.  I wonder if I could find those 18 blocks to show ziggy, hopefully one of those will be of the "impossible" variety.

[WayOutWest]

And no matter how high WOW's blood pressure gets, doesn't change the fact that if Andrei Kirilenko (my favorite player) did this to Kobe Bryant, I'd be calling for AK's head just the same.   

I wouldn't call for AK's head, I guess that's part of the argument I haven't touched on.  I WOULD call for Bowen's and Bell's head but not AK.  There are certain players I would argue the other side of this point because I consider them dirty and IMO Ariza is not one of them.

[Ted]

Have you ever played basketball?  Do you even watch it?  (That's the required intro used by all Lakers jock riders)

Whatever Captain Sobel. Typical answer. 

I play basketball three times a week at 5:30 in the freakin' morning, and I know better than to take a whack at someone when it's clear I can't catch him and he's in the air.

I'm not saying Ariza's cheap. Not saying he wanted to hurt him. I am saying he knew he was going to put him on the floor.

You sound as if you're trying to sell that Ariza really thought he was going to block that shot. Fernandez was going strong to the rim, in the air, with two hands on the ball. Ziggy is right, from that angle, and with that swipe on the ball, Ariza had ZERO chance at the ball. He went for the foul on a guy who was in the air and had him beat.

[WayOutWest]

You sound as if you're trying to sell that Ariza really thought he was going to block that shot. Fernandez was going strong to the rim, in the air, with two hands on the ball.

Maybe Ariza has been watching LeBron highlights and thought he could "be like James"?  There are tons of plays guys in the league make that I wouldn't have even tried in my prime; still doesn't mean that block was "impossible".

If the block was impossible and Ariza didn't really think he could make it then he MUST have had the intent to put Rudy down.

I just don't think Ariza was trying to hurt anyone. 

[Lurker]

I think the fact that we are even having this discussion...with ALL the accompanying video...shows that Ariza did have a shot at the block.  So he missed by half a step.  How many times has the difference between a blocked shot/foul call been because of half a step? 

Injury is always a risk for these guys.  It is one they take every time they step on the court.  IMO this was a solid...albeit hard...foul but one where the defensive player had more of a chance than the defenders of Rudy want to admit.  And the fact that it did throw Rudy off balance is why it deserved to be a flagrant.  Then the fact that Rudy was seriously hurt (in relevant terms) called for the flagrant to be level 2.  Other players have been hit hard in the same circumstances...TJ Ford a few years back.  Where was the outrage then?

Injuries occur...and sometimes careers are changed.  It is unfortunate but it happens in professional sports.

[westkoast]

GET A (CONFERENCE) ROOM YOU GUYS !!!

[Reality]

Validating the play was an obvious cheapshot:
zig
Skandery
Joe V
Reality
Ted


Lame excuses dept:
W.O.W.-Captain Herbert Sobel
westkoast
Lurker
Laker Fan

Spot on related subject assessments
Jomal
jn

[westkoast]

Validating the play was an obvious cheapshot:
zig
Skandery
Joe V
Reality
Ted


Lame excuses dept:
W.O.W.-Captain Herbert Sobel
westkoast
Lurker
Laker Fan

Spot on related subject assessments
Jomal
jn

Wow you have time to be a moron in this thread but completely run with your tail between your legs when discussing Lakers/Spurs.

Typical.

[Reality]

^ You once again fail to realize that ignoring you is 180 degrees different from running.

[westkoast]

^ You once again fail to realize that ignoring you is 180 degrees different from running.

Nope, it's not.  It is a simple basketball discussion, that is the whole point of this board.  Why else would you come to a BASKETBALL DISCUSSION BOARD.    Clearly you failing to talk about the Spurs and Lakers, two teams you are obsessed with, proves otherwise.  You are really afraid to debate basketball.  Any thing that requires in depth discussion and analysis of match ups you run and hide from.  You can't go to a message board about basketball and then ignore basketball discussions LOL.

You don't know much about basketball and choose to fall back to idiot mode by playing this game in here.  That's really why you are 'ignoring' you are afraid to really talk basketball.  If you want to continue to  be a moron and act like you are too good to DISCUSS BASKETBALL on a BASKETBALL DISCUSSION BOARD, go to fan home and stay there. Do us all a favor.