Big game tonight for Denver

[WayOutWest]

Laker eyes, Laker lies!

Bynum went for the ball, what did Jones go for on that trip or that TWO handed push in the back?

Laker hate causes blindness!

[Joe Vancil]

Even amoung friends and family we might come to blows if we get shoved in the back like that, if a non-friend did that we are going to throw down.  That is one of the most dangerous things to do to a guy on the court and Jones deserved a suspension for that disgusting play.

Now I know for a fact that you actually PLAY the game, Miguel.

I've griped and griped and griped for years that a push from behind when you're in motion is the dirtiest play in basketball.  Potential for nasty knee injuries - the severe kind - is just too great.  And you're right;  that's the play that even friends and family know will trigger a response.

I was actually involved in a push-in-the-back play several months back - with Skander.  As both of us were going for a rebound, *I* got pushed, and fell into him hands-first, trying to regain my balance...kind of a domino effect.  Fortunately, neither of us were moving very fast, so neither of us hit the floor, but those could have been HUGE injuries if we had been.

If that's one of my players, that kind of play is an automatic trip to the bench.

Kobe's far from a clean player (he's pretty darn filthy, actually), but that kind of bush-league stuff from Jones is uncalled for no matter who the victim is.  It can't ever be condoned.

[WayOutWest]

Now I know for a fact that you actually PLAY the game, Miguel.

I've griped and griped and griped for years that a push from behind when you're in motion is the dirtiest play in basketball.  Potential for nasty knee injuries - the severe kind - is just too great.  And you're right;  that's the play that even friends and family know will trigger a response.

I was actually involved in a push-in-the-back play several months back - with Skander.  As both of us were going for a rebound, *I* got pushed, and fell into him hands-first, trying to regain my balance...kind of a domino effect.  Fortunately, neither of us were moving very fast, so neither of us hit the floor, but those could have been HUGE injuries if we had been.

If that's one of my players, that kind of play is an automatic trip to the bench.

Kobe's far from a clean player (he's pretty darn filthy, actually), but that kind of bush-league stuff from Jones is uncalled for no matter who the victim is.  It can't ever be condoned.

I ended up with a concusion once on a play like that, we were running a 2 on 1 fast break and I got a lay up but then everything went black.  I woke up looking up at the sky and my elbows were on the ground and my arms were strait up at my sides and I remember thinking "why can't I get my hands down so I can push myself back up".  I was dazed and the next day I was sore as hell suffering from whiplash.  I don't even remember my friends taking me home.  I ran into the guy at a Del La Hoya pay per view party at a friends house about two months later, I didn't even know who he was but then he came over and apologized but he got like three words out and I grabbed him by the back of his head and kneed him in the face.  Then somebody broke a bottle on my head and I was out again.    I guess I lost that series 2 to 1.  Lucky for me a bunch of my friends were there and the guy and his 2 buds had to be helped into their car cause they couldn't make it back under their own power. 

[Joe Vancil]

Well, WayOut, I guess you just have to decide you'd rather be down 2-1 or down 1-0.  Either way, you're behind, but at 2-1, at least the other guy knows it ain't gonna be no sweep.  <grin>

[Reality]

What about the two handed push to the back of Kobe while mid air in Game 3?  What is your "take" on that, Reality?

Should not be allowed, Flagrant.

Looked like Jones did a two tiered push (sorry recording not available at press time).  1st push slight, kinda thru Kobme off but not that much.  2nd push much more risk caused to Kobme as turned like a plane that caught some turbulence.  Glad he is acrobatic and did not get hurt on the landing.

Per the Skandery posts when Ariza cheapshot and Flagranted Rudy Fernandez thus all you Laker posters showed your unparrallelled bias and unobjectivity, we can't be having "degrees" of mid air pushiness.   Should be and was called a Flag on Jones.

[rickortreat]

Jones was called for a foul on that play. He did it because Kobe had passed him and it was the only way to stop him from scoring.  It wasn't a heavy push just enough to cause his shot to be too hard and miss the basket.  Kobe didn't get hurt on that play or fall down.

On the other hand, you are correct in saying that an injury COULD OCCUR on a play like that. It is a cheap shot, and it's done after the offensive player has gotten by, which is to say, had already beaten his man. So if you want to say that any push in the back should result in a technical or flagrant, I'd be fine with that. Anything to make a potentially dangerous game safer.

The last thing anyone should want or be willing to accept is a player getting hurt because of the actions of another.  That was why I was so upset at Robert Horry for that foul on Nash. To add insult to injury the league gave out suspensions to players who got up to see what happened to their teamate. What Horry did went well beyond anything we're talking about here. And it changes my perception of Bob as a player forever.  Cheap shot Bob, glad he's gone.

[WayOutWest]

Jones was called for a foul on that play. He did it because Kobe had passed him and it was the only way to stop him from scoring.  It wasn't a heavy push just enough to cause his shot to be too hard and miss the basket.  Kobe didn't get hurt on that play or fall down.

That tells me you don't play basketball.  I guarantee you that cheap DIRTY play starts a fight.

[Joe Vancil]

I'm with WayOut on that one.  That kind of push from behind triggers a reaction.