Comments on: Good News! The Lakers Aren’t Dirty! They Just Don’t Care If They Kill You On Accident!

By: Jaceman

Jaceman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:51:02 +0000

I don’t think that Ariza necessarily was trying to take Fernandez out, and I do agree that Ariza was going for the ball. However, unless Ariza virtually cleared Fernandez, there’s no way that he could’ve gotten all ball, except through Rudy’s head. I don’t think it was intentional, but definitely reckless.

By: Aliasing

Aliasing — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:18:16 +0000

@ Laurance
You’re overstating my position by saying I want someone taken out. I just say that if you want to be a contender, you can’t let other teams get away with hitting your guys like that. Despite the fact that the Rose Garden has been a fortress against the Lakers for years now, this years Blazers won’t take a series, nor even extend a series to 7 games against the Lakers – the hard core of fight isn’t there. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and your teams.

By: The Dude Abides

The Dude Abides — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:35:45 +0000

Forgot the link to the slideshow. Rookie move.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/03/fernandez_released_odom_suspen.html

By: The Dude Abides

The Dude Abides — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:32:06 +0000

In the first two photos in this slideshow, one can clearly see Ariza’s hand on the ball. Rudy ducked his head, and Ariza’s forearm brushed the top of his head fairly hard, because he took a big swing from the side. Yes it was a reckless play, and deserved a flagrant 2.

The reason Rudy fell so awkwardly was because he went up for a two-handed dunk off one foot. Most NBA players on a fast break will go up with one hand when they jump off one foot. Going up with two hands meant that after Trevor hit the ball, he made contact with Rudy’s left wrist, which was raised as a result of trying a two-handed dunk. When Trevor made contact with the wrist, it caused Rudy to pinwheel in the air and land with no control. If he had tried a one-handed dunk, he probably would have landed properly but unsteadily, and likely drawn a foul even if the shot were blocked because Trevor’s forearm caught him on the head.

By: Laurance

Laurance — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:59:35 +0000

Hey ericL, it seems like he gets at least some ball, but the videos i’m watching are youtube quality, so maybe I am wrong. But regardless, even you have agreed that he played the ball and not trying to take Rudy out. thanks for that.

wildyams-i doubt he’ll respond..but it would be interesting

and seriously, for everyone with “i want someone to be taken out” attitude does not, in my mind at least, constitute a true basketball fan. If you want a fight, watch boxing. Physicality, yeah thats cool, but vindictive retaliation? Really?

The league has been trying to shape up it’s image from “thugs” playing basketball, the stars who are pushed by the league today mostly have good personalities. This is not by coincidence.

And wondahbap, thank you, thank you, and thank you. i read what Henry Abbot wrote also and find it biased, but then again, he’s a blazers fan and i guess he can protect him. And then again he also has more cred then we do. But bawful has this ongoing piece of the wussification of the league or something. And it’s true. sadly, they too hate the lakers.

By: wondahbap

wondahbap — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:42:32 +0000

My comment came out more insensitive then I intended. Of course, no one want to see a player injured, but I just don’t think Ariza did anything wrong, but get caught in a bad situation with the speed of the play. He jumped before Rudy did, and Rudy braced for contact as he attempted to cock it back and got his arm caught with Ariza’s.

By: wondahbap

wondahbap — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:36:03 +0000

It seems like no one here actually plays basketball, or are just drinking the Blazer fan Henry Abbot Kool-Aid. Sorry to sound so condescending, but that foul was not dirty, nor intentional, nor reckless. The injury was unfortunate, but kind of a fluke. You see block attempts like that often, but not always results like that. Shit happens. It happened to Rudy. Y’all sound like wusses.

This argument about it is ridiculous. Anyone who claims to follow the NBA, then whine about conspiracy theories, is not worth arguing with. Last I checked, the Lakers didn’t cash in their NBA bias voucher in last June.

By: WildYams

WildYams — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:15:41 +0000

Just thought I’d check in to see if Derrick expanded on why he thought the NBA gifted the Lakers the title in 2001, but I see he hasn’t written anything in response.

That’s what I thought.

By: colganc

colganc — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:02:47 +0000

Lawrence,

From being at the game, what looked like happened is Ariza immediately was talking trash after the play. Roy seeing that went over to talk trash back.

By: DavidR

DavidR — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:58:55 +0000

What’s interesting to note is that Farmar immediately walks over to Fernandez after the foul to check on him, while Ariza turns away from Fernandez on the floor and starts talking trash.

If Ariza wanted to foul Fernandez, maybe shove him hard or something, I don’t think that’s dirty. That’s playing smart and forcing him to take foul shots. Even if he did this foul, and at least turned around to check on the guy he fouled, he could claim innocence and that it was an accident. But the complete disregard towards Fernandez and the trash talking shows he’s just a thug.