Some people are PISSED OFF about Trevor Ariza’s take down of Rudy Fernandez. The above video, courtesy of Can’t Stop the Bleeding, shows a certain individual who didn’t take too kindly to the Ariza’s foul, and he isn’t afraid to express himself about the matter.
Apparently, the gentleman lost a little respect for Team Kobe.
As for the fallout, how’s this for irony: Trevor Ariza, the foul giver in all this, is not being suspended. His ejection was apparently good enough. On the other hand, the Lamar Odom business has been decided and guess what? Odom is going to be taking a League-invited one game vacation because he was snared by the “no leaving the bench area” goon squad.
The cost of Odom’s push and subsequent stare down with Brandon Roy (1:38 mark)? $104,000. Oddly enough, before the suspension was handed down, Odom offered his defense:
“No, I stayed on the bench,” Odom said after the game. “I stood up. I didn’t go nowhere. They’ll [the NBA] see it and they’ll see I didn’t go nowhere.”
Um, not so much, there, Lamar. Still, what kind of backwards world do we live in if the one who committed the foul doesn’t get punished, but a player who responds to the crowd surging his way gets suspended?
If Odom didn’t square up with Roy, he would probably be playing against the Houston Rockets tonight. Oh well, at least he doesn’t have to deal with Ron Artest.
We’re back on the Rudy Fernandez/Trevor Ariza incident again, but this time, the two “combatants” aren’t the focus of this post. According to ESPN, Lakers forward Lamar Odom is being investigated by the NBA’s front office to see if his actions warrant a suspension. In other words, the “leaving the bench” rule is back in the news. Thankfully, however, a Spurs/Suns playoff series isn’t on the line as we await the findings concerning Odom’s actions.
What they will be looking at is when Odom and Brandon Roy squared off with each other before Odom gets pushed back to the bench area by an assistant coach. It’s at the 1:38 mark in the lead video.
Following the letter of the law David Stern so vehemently defended on the Dan Patrick show following the Phoenix Suns suspensions, Odom should, in fact, be punished for mixing it up with Roy. He clearly stepped away from the bench area to do so, and like the commissioner so eloquently said, the NBA’s leaders can’t pick and choose what rules they enforce.
Following that rationale, I would expect Odom to be serving at least a one-game suspension.
The irony here is, the catalyst for all the unpleasantness, Ariza, will not be suspended by the league for his foul. Commit a foul that makes the basketball world sit up and take notice and you get nothing but an in-game ejection. Get up off of the bench during the fallout of said foul and you’ll probably get suspended by league. See how that works?
Now, I’m not doubting the fact it hurts when you get knocked to the hardwood during a basketball game, especially when you are running at full speed, followed by a jump towards the rim. If something should happen during your flight and you get knocked out of the air, I know it hurts. But is it as bad as Rudy Fernandez acted when Trevor Ariza made contact with his head, causing Fernandez to land awkwardly?
Below is the video of the incident — all eight minutes of it — and to me, it doesn’t look like Ariza was trying to be dirty or even flagrant. He made a play on the ball and missed. Fernandez’ reaction was a little surprising. I guess I didn’t expect the play to hurt him as badly as it apparently did.
I’m guessing the stretcher and the neck brace were for precautionary measures because it doesn’t even look like Fernandez’ head makes contact with the floor, although, there was a whip-like reaction. According to Oregon Live, Fernandez has a soft tissue injury to his chest and side area. X-rays and CT scans were negative.
In other news, the Blazers absolutely smashed the Lakers, winning 111-94. That’s not a bad statement to make for a young team fighting for strong seed in the upcoming NBA playoffs.
The NBA Dunk Contest is Saturday night, meaning a lot of sports-watching males will probably miss because of Valentine’s Day duties. For those of you lucky enough to either have a partner who likes basketball, or if you are single, there’s been a Dunk Contest development to relay: Memphis high-flier Rudy Gay has been replaced by Denver’s J.R. Smith. Smith participated in a previous contest when he played in New Orleans, and as the above video shows, he does indeed have dunking skills.
A nice behind the back finish is always something to appreciate. With that in mind, who ya got? To assist in your decision, here are the dunk contest preview videos. After the jump >>
Today is the last day you can vote for which NBA player you’d like to see in the upcoming Dunk Contest, which takes place during the NBA’s All Star Weekend celebration. By now, you probably know the players you can vote on–Milwaukee’s Joe Alexander, Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and Rudy Fernandez of the Trail Blazers. All three of these players have been featured here at IF in one form or another, if that helps your decision any.
After being delayed for over a year, the long awaited debut of Greg Oden finally happened last night and the initial results were exciting. In 20 minutes of game time, Oden scored 13 points, grabbed five boards and blocked two shots and received a standing ovation for his efforts.
