Through all the good times and the bad for the Los Angeles Lakers, there has been one constant they could always count on: Kobe Bryant. Heck, he even has a well known hashtag on twitter called “countonkobe”.
That, unfortunately, may no longer be the case for the foreseeable future after the guard suffered a severely sprained ankle during the final moments of what proved to be an intense contest between the Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks.
With a chance to pull up for a game-winning 3-point attempt, Kobe decided to pass up on the opportunity and went for the tie in the final seconds of the game with a fade-away jump shot against an old nemesis in Dahntay Jones. The shot missed, which was unfortunate, but there was nothing worse than seeing Kobe crumple to the floor, writhing in pain after landing on the foot of Jones.
The question isn’t whether the play by Jones was intentional, but if the league will ever implement stronger rules against players invading the space of a jump shooter. There are some unwritten rules in the NBA, and one of them is to make sure you don’t stick your foot under a player who is about to land from a jump shot. Unfortunately, not all players comply to this unwritten rule and sometimes end up seriously injuring their opponents in the process. If the league cares about the safety of its players, they have to understand the seriousness of this play and hand out harsher punishments, especially if done with intent.
So now lets ask the question: did Jones intentionally stick his foot where it didn’t belong? Kobe certainly thought so, as you can see from his tweets below:
Jones saw all the reactions of his actions on twitter and decided to share some of his own thoughts on the matter: