Dahntay Jones Actions: Bryant's Loss

Kobe Bryant is complaining about Dahntay Jones coming underneath him as he was shooting a jumper in LA's loss to Atlanta. However, Bryant did the same thing to Kendrick Perkins in the 2010 Finals when he undercut Perk by not allowing Perk to come down with his weight evenly distributed when Perk was going for a rebound. Bryant walked up underneath Perk. All Bryant got was a severe sprain. Perk took over 6 months to recover from Kobe's actions. Bryant should just shut up and take his lumps!

MD!

MD,

Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMEKEdknTNU

Kobe's feet were nowhere near Perk's when he came down. Perk just landed in a bad way that stressed his knee and caused the injury.

I do agree that "Bryant should just shut up and take his lumps!" IMO, he initiated the contact and it wasn't a dirty play that caused his sprained ankle.

gyso

Hi,
Much bigger problem is that the league issued a statement that the ref missed the call. I wonder if statements like that apply to events only if Kobe, LJ, DW and KD are involved?
Can you imagine the outcome of the last year ECF if such a statement was issued after game 1 (pick any of those bogus fouls)?

AK

The league frequently makes an announcement that their referees made a wrong call.

Here are some examples:

Missed foul call at end of Lakers-Hawks Game
Mar 14 2013 4:02PM
With 4.9 seconds remaining in the Atlanta Hawks' 96-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on March 13, the Lakers' Kobe Bryant attempted a jump shot over the Hawks' Dahntay Jones. After review at the league office, video replay confirmed that referees missed a foul call on Jones as he challenged Bryant's shot and did not give him the opportunity to land cleanly back on the floor. Bryant should have been granted two free throws. Click video here.

Missed foul call in Pacers-Nuggets Game
Jan 30 2013 4:47PM
After review at the league office, video replay confirmed that NBA Officials missed a foul call against Denver’s Andre Iguodala late in the Nuggets-Indiana Pacers game on January 28 when the game was tied at 101. Iguodala reached for the ball and made illegal body contact which forced Indiana’s Paul George to lose possession. George should have been granted two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining in the game. Click video here.

Incorrect Block-Charge Call in Mavericks-Blazers game:
Jan 30 2013 4:44PM
With 1.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Dallas Mavericks-Portland Trail Blazers game on January 29, officials called a charging foul on Dallas’ OJ Mayo. After review at the league office, the video replay confirmed the play should have been ruled a blocking foul as Portland’s Ronnie Price did not get his body directly in Mayo’s path prior to him starting his upward shooting motion. Mayo should have been granted two free throws. Click video here.

Officials Mistake in Raptors-Bulls game
Jan 18 2013 5:00PM
With one second remaining in overtime of the Chicago Bulls-Toronto Raptors game on January 16, officials called a foul on Chicago’s Joakim Noah as Toronto’s Amir Johnson gathered the ball while driving to the basket. The officials ruled the foul was on the floor but upon review at the league office, the video replay confirmed that the foul should have been called a shooting foul with Johnson receiving two free throws. Click video here.

http://www.nba.com/official/

Here's what Paul Pierce had to say about this to WEEI's Mike Petraglia:


"I think it got blown out of proportion. He put his hands up, got into his defender but because of the fact it’s Kobe Bryant, it’s an issue. If it was somebody else, we probably wouldn’t be talking about it."


bob
MY NOTE: It was a foul by Jones, no question about it, the refs missed a key call. Was it intentional? Maybe, maybe not. It's not like he was staring where Kobe was going to come down and slid his foot there. The point made by Pierce here, and it is one I made on another thread, is that stuff like this happens to players all the time. In fact, it is one of the most common sports injuries, according to the Hospital for Special Surgery http://www.hss.edu/condition-list_sprained-ankle.asp. It's not the first time a player kicks his legs out like Kobe did (that can't feel good either) and which he does a lot, it's not the first time a player slides under another player like Jones did and it's not the first time a player comes down on another player's foot and and sprains an ankle or knee but because it happened to Kobe the Twitter Universe is hyper-animated and Laker fans are outraged, just like we were when DWade took down Rondo in the playoffs. The Lakers have risen from the dead and, with this one play, are in jeopardy of going back there. That makes it a big deal.




.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:9055499



.

TJ,
You are correct about the league issuing statements. Unfortunately, this particular statement was made about the event that, as PP eloquently put it, got blown out of proportion.
Also, I doubt that the league issues statements about all blown calls that changed the outcome of the game, e.g. clobbering of PP that was judged as a jump ball in Bos-Chi game.
BTW, I wonder if the league issues statements confirming a critical call was correct (with or without controversy)?

AK

The ones that have blown this out of proportion are the media and not Kobe and the Lakers.

The media knows that if it was O.J. Mayo or Paul George who received the same non-call at the end of a game, most wouldn't care much at all.

Kobe is a top 5 player in the league. He gets attention whether it's good or bad. The Lakers are also a very loved and hated franchise who have been followed closely this season not just by sports media but also by media in general. Also, it was a key game in which the Lakers are trying to battle for a playoff spot. If LA was 50-16 and Kobe wasn't pressured to get back on the court ASAP, it wouldn't be as big of an issue as it turned into.

As for Dahntay Jones, why do we need to give him the benefit of the doubt?
He has previously pushed Kobe in the back while he went up for a shot and stuck out his leg and tripped Kobe when Kobe went around him. I don't know if he intentionally put his right foot under Kobe as Jalen Rose did in 2000 but I don't feel the need to give him the benefit of the doubt. Even more so when you factor in his tweets afer that game when he said that Kobe didn't land on his foot. He has since changed his stance on that but that is most likely due to the Hawks PR Dept advising him to change his stance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OssD0TbqqO0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6BWYMjTs3c