Yes, Dahntay. Tape does not lie, so lets take a look, shall we?:
(via SB Nation)
Some claim that it’s Kobe’s fault for sticking his leg up on the play. While sticking your leg up on a jump shot is an illegal play if you make contact with the defender, the right leg he stuck out never made contact with Jones (at least not because of Kobe) nor was that the intent, so the matter is actually irrelevant in this case. What matters is that Jones made a half-ass attempt at contesting the actual shot and made sure he took a step forward with his right leg, insuring that Kobe would be left with absolutely no landing space. And of course, Jones does the classic “look-away-from-the-play” thing as if he is unaware of what he is doing on the play. He claims the move is unintentional, but lets use some common sense here. If you give an airborne player no space to land and stick your foot under him, what exactly do you think is going to happen?
No matter what league you play in, that is not an acceptable form of defense. Nevertheless, Jones continued to defend his case:
Here are some of the plays he is referring to:
Clearly, there is some history between the two players. That much is for certain when you see what Kobe had to say after the game, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Here’s Jones’ final words about the play:
If Jones really means what he says, then he should realize the bottom line: Kobe injured his ankle due to his carelessness. It’s something he needs to look at and reconsider doing, should such a situation rise again in the future.
And again, it’s a play the league needs to take much more seriously.
Tweet of the Day: LeBron James
Tweet of the Night: Danny Green