There are always two sides to every story.
We saw Serge Ibaka chop down on Blake Griffin’s manhood on Sunday, and unless you have no sympathy towards any man that gets whacked in their jewels whatsoever, you would agree that Ibaka should probably have been thrown out of that game, and a suspension ought to be coming his way.
Ask the Thunder forward, though, and he’ll tell you how innocent he was in the whole fiasco. John Rohde of The Oklahoman has details:
“He hit my hands away,” Ibaka told reporters afterward. “He’s strong, so when he grabs you, your jersey or whatever, and you try to defend yourself and rebound. So maybe you can do some move, not to hurt, (but) just to get good position, but then something happens where you get hurt in the paint. It’s not anything where I want to try to hurt him. I’m not that kind of person. I just try to play hard, and that’s it. “I just tried to play hard. I really don’t care if someone is dirty or not, that’s not my problem. His game was intense. We all were complaining to the referees (about) some dirty stuff. It’s basketball. We just played. If you can see the replay, you can see he grabbed my jersey first so I wanted to try to defend myself, (but) not to hurt him.”
Really, Serge? He grabbed your jersey so you did THAT to “defend” yourself? There are some things that are off limits no matter how tight or dirty the competition gets, and deliberately grabbing or hitting the midsection of another player is most definitely among them. Here is how Kobe Bryant reacted when he heard about Ibaka’s behavior, from Mark Medina of Daily News:
“I probably would have smacked him in the mouth,” Bryant said after practice Monday at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo.
Griffin didn’t get the chance to do that. He understandably slumped to the ground.
“I would’ve dealt with the pain afterwards,” Bryant said.
That’s quite the reaction from Mr. Vino, but perhaps he should be a bit more careful about what he reveals. If Houston, Utah or Golden State wish to assure that they get into the playoffs in the Western Conference, they now know how to get Kobe suspended. I’m just saying.
Onto other news from around the league:
David Kahn could replaced by Flip Saunders before the start of next season, according to Sid Hartman of Star Tribune: “There are several indications pointing to the likelihood of former Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders replacing David Kahn as president of basketball operations for the team before the 2013-14 season. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor wasn’t available for comment on the subject Saturday, but he hasn’t kept it a secret that Saunders has served as a consultant for him on the basketball team during this season. It was interesting to see Taylor’s quote in Thursday’s Star Tribune about his contact with Saunders. Taylor said: “He’s pretty well aware of what is happening with the Timberwolves.” And then some time ago Taylor talked about how he was in contact with Saunders for information on how to handle the many injuries the Wolves have suffered this season. And the word is that Saunders made a trip to Mankato to talk basketball with Taylor. Unless Saunders is offered a coaching job that would pay him a lot more money than he would get being the Wolves’ president of basketball operations, I think it’s a strong possibility that Saunders will replace Kahn before next season.”