Bryant Suspended for Striking Ginobili
5 Comments Published by C.J. on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 1:04 PM.
What a joke. I wait a full year for this night, spending time and energy getting good seats, and now ruined, for no reason...
Reasons Kobe should not have been suspended for hitting Ginobili.
1) the Lakers come to NYC once a year.
2) It was inadvertent.
3) Ginobili is a flopper and deserves it.
Kobe Bryant was suspended one game without pay by the NBA on Tuesday for striking San Antonio's Manu Ginobili in the face. Bryant was to miss Tuesday's game against the New York Knicks, leaving the Lakers without their leading scorer when they opened an eight-game road trip. The incident occurred with 2.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 96-94 overtime loss to the Spurs on Sunday. Bryant is averaging 28.4 points, 5.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds.
UPDATE 1: Video of the hit
UPDATE 2: nba rulebook says you need intent or an elbow. this had neither.
Labels: basketball, flopper, ginobili, italian rat, knicks, kobe bryant, lakers, nba
Bryant was staying at the Lakers' team hotel just a few blocks from NBA headquarters in Manhattan, and he was on call to dash down Fifth Avenue to Stern's office if the request was granted. But barring the unlikeliest turn of events, Bryant was officially banned from Madison Square Garden for the Los Angeles' Lakers only visit of the season to play the Knicks.
The suspension, for elbowing Manu Ginobili of the Spurs while Bryant was attempting a jump shot late in the Lakers' game against the Spurs on Sunday, caught Bryant completely off-guard.
"I haven't seen a precedence for this. There's unintentional elbows that take place in a game all the time," Bryant told reporters at Madison Square Garden following the Lakers' shootaround. "I'm blown away by it. It makes no sense."
The NBA news release announcing the suspension said Bryant was being penalized for "striking" Ginobili, but there was no further explanation given in regards to whether league vice president Stu Jackson felt the contact was intentional.
Players association officials said it was highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a player to be suspended for inadvertent contact.
"We're asking for an immediate hearing, and given Kobe's availability in New York, he's offered to meet with the commissioner or appropriate league officials to review the tape and explain what happened," union spokesman Dan Wasserman said. "Kobe can be at the league office on literally 10 to 15 minutes notice."
Nobody deserves it, idiot. Plus Kobe was trying to pretend to draw a foul, so you are hypocritical , as well.
But was there really no intention?? I hate to say it, but looks like Kobe knew what he was doing.
what??? did jesus "intend" to heal all those sick people with wine and myrhh?
of course not. great people do great things. that is what makes them special.
Kobe takes cheap shots all the time. There's no question that he knew exactly what he was doing. Watch him play sometime when he doesn't have the ball and the refs aren't looking.