Defending the Nuggets Dahntay Jones
Are there other people out there that found it annoying when Mark Jackson, Mike Breen, and Jeff Van Gundy last night while calling the Lakers-Nuggets Game 4, were calling for Dahntay Jones‘ head on a platter over his ‘dirty trip’ of Kobe Bryant? Are fouls no longer part of the game?
Put yourself in Dahntay Jones shoes for just one second. You are tasked by your team to do one, and only one thing on the floor, and that is stop the best offensive player in the entire league from scoring. The coaches, trainers, and your teammates are telling you for hours before the game to “be physical with him”, “stay in front of him”, “don’t give him any easy baskets to get going”, “make him work for it”, “do whatever it takes”, etc. etc. And on one particular play you are working your tail off and he gets past you, since he isn’t within arms reach you instantly react and stick out your foot. Bryant trips and falls down.
Did you foul him? Absolutely!
Should the referees have called it? Absolutely!
Was it anything ‘dirty’ or cause for fines or suspension? Not even close.
If you’ve played basketball at virtually any level of competitiveness you are well aware that to play the kind of gritty, hard-nosed defense required to stop the opposition’s top offensive scorer, you are going to commit fouls from time to time. It happens, it’s just part of the game. Defensive fouls are as much a part of the game as free throws, field goals, passing, or dribbling.
Sometimes when you are playing really tight defense, doing everything you can physically and mentally to stay in front of your man he is going to beat you. And every single basketball player out there knows that from time to time your instant sub-conscious reaction is to just foul him, by grabbing, pulling, tugging, pushing, and sometimes even ‘tripping’. Yes, I said the dirty word, “tripping”.
Sure Kobe Bryant fell down hard on the trip, but he got up unharmed without any injury, cuts, or bruises. Most players fall much harder than that on a standard play taking the ball to the bucket where it is quite acceptable to give a guy a “hard foul” and send him flying into the first row of people where much more physical damage can occur.
My message to Dahntay Jones is this, ‘next time just work on moving your feet so you don’t have that impulse to stick out your foot to stop Bryant. But in the meantime ignore the haters, because the Nuggets are playing great defense right now.’
this had nothing to do with the pace of the game, although it was dirty. remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxGoMAMuDUQ&feature=related
I disagree with this article wholeheartedly. My favorite team has dropped out of the finals (maybe next year, Hawks), so I have turned to watching the last teams play it out. Denver is just a downright dirty team. Not just with this tripping, but dozens of shoves, elbows, and grabs away from the ball that never get noticed or at least never get called. I challenge anyone to watch the next game and keep their eyes off the ball and on the “great defenders” of the Nuggets. I’m no huge Laker fan, but still, some of that garbage is unacceptable.
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This article is comical. To suggest that intentionally sticking your foot out to deliberately trip another player is not dirty, and to justify it by saying he was trying to ’stop the best offensive player in the entire league from scoring’ is hilarious.
Really? Your saying dirty moves like that are a natural part of the game? No that’s BS, fouls are part of the game but not crap like this that could actually hurt a player, and worst of all done deliberately because he got schooled. These guys are dirty and a bunch of floppers, I hope the Lakers clean the floor with them.
Next you’ll be saying deliberate elbows to the face are just “a part of the game”.
I have to disagree. Yes, when you’re playing hard D you will sometimes intentionally foul to not get beat, but there are some kinds of fouls that are dirty and should be penalized beyond the normal foul call. Tripping is one of them. Shoving in the back when a player is going for a layup is another. If you play basketball you know how it feels when people do this. It’s different from normal hard fouls. I like the Nuggets and they’ve been playing hard D, but that trip shouldn’t go unpunished. A suspension might be too much, but at least a fine is in order.
Tripping someone isn’t ‘playing dirty’? What universe do YOU live in, dude?
What the hell are you talking about? Dahntay Jones’s trick was DIRTY and he should have been punished for it. He didn’t even get a call! It was a dirty, low-blow play. Period.
If your idea of great defense is literally kicking and tripping people, guess what, there’s already a sport for that. It’s called the UFC.
I don’t know what parallel universe you live in but at any court I’ve seen, if you pull a dick move like that, everyone will be in your face about it, regardless of team. It was a dirtbag play and he should absolutely be charged with a flagrant 2 if not suspended
I mean, are you serious? THAT IS THE EPITOME OF DIRTY. Jones is NOT a good defender if he can’t move his feet and sticks his leg out to HURT Kobe. there is no excuse and I wish Billups would act like a man and tell his teammate to knock that off before someone ACTUALLY GETS HURT. what a joke. the nuggets aren’t good defenders, they just dont get called for fouls. Its easy when the ref’s dont call it.
Worthy of a suspension? No. Dirty? Hell yes it was.
C’mon are you kidding me!!! The officials have been acting like the Denver Nuggets owner paid them on the side. The Nuggets are acting like “a bunch of thugs” as Mark Cuban said. What Jones did was a “dirty move” period. Then for the officials not to call it a flagrant or rather even call a foul is pathetic. Melo grabs shirts, Martin grabs arms, Jones trips people. I guess thats the only way they figure they can win. I agree with the other person “Chauncey Billups ought to talk with his team members about playing hard, and not playing dirty”. The Lakers will come out on top. Jones is nothing to KOBE BRYANT, and the honest truth is if he did get a suspension the Nuggets would’nt miss him one bit. Play good ball. Thats what the fans want to see. Not a grown professional trying to intemtionally hurt another.
If I guy did this during our games at the gym, we would ask him to leave. Intentional plays away from the ball to hurt players are dirty at any level. He should sit out a game and think about how to play defense within the rules.
Dirty to the point of a game suspension? No but DIRTY yes! Just like unnecessary roughness is for football hence the term unnecessary its not mandatory to stop your opponent or slow him/her down. To take up for it like its natural is a cop out and excusing unsportsman like behavior. No true athlete, writer,analyst or fan I know would stand for a bitch move that Dahntay Jones made against Kobe the other day. And before anyone uses that lame excuse that oh you must be a Kobe fan I’d say that if it was made against any other player, even one I don’t like. At best Dahntay should of got a Flagrant 1 but to treat this as any other foul is ridiculous especially with a player that has history of giving questionably dirty fouls
Point well taken. Based on your comments I would agree somewhat. What Dahntay Jones did was in fact a ‘dirty’ foul, but where I differ from you guys in my opinion is that I don’t think it warrants anything even remotely close to a suspension or fine. It warrants at best two free throws for Kobe.
It was done on impulse when he was playing aggressive defense. It was a mistake, but it was just a foul. That’s part of the game. Hell, maybe i’m just a dirty player myself then, but I hate when I give someone a hard foul and they get all in your face, like you just stole their girl or something.
If this happened in the era of the ‘Bad Boys’ or other physical defensive teams in the past, no one would even be talking about it. If the refs called it they would say good call on the foul, if they missed the foul they would say bad call. But NO ONE would be talking about suspensions. The league is going soft with all the flagrants and suspensions they are handing out. It’s a men’s professional league, if you can’t handle a minor trip and falling to the court, you have no business playing. Go play rec ball at the Y.
With Jones now tripping Kobe and the in game before shoving him in the back, it’s safe to say Jones does some pretty cheap things.
Deliberate trip, dick move. Suspend him.
Go Nuggets and Go Billups!
I’d expect that from “the phantom kicker” but this is just poor sportsmanship. He got beat bad, that being said, there are way too many Kobe worshipers here.
Dhantay Jones has played some good tough defense but the trip and a two handed shove in the back are clearly flagrant fouls. This is my first time reading an article from you and I doubt you are usually this far off base but geez, your suggestion is ridiculous.
[...] Defending the Nuggets Dahntay Jones [...]
If this was the first time, then no it probably shouldn’t warrant a suspension. But after pushing Kobe in the back, the league should have suspended him because he is no longer making basketball plays. What Dahntay Jones is doing is not working to stop Kobe and the only thing it’s going to do is probably injure Kobe in the long run. I respect hard fouls made towards the ball, I respect tugging on the jersey and holding and not getting caught. But doing things that put peoples career in danger is not acceptable. There is no way this guy gains the reputation of Bruce Bowens, he can’t even guard Bruce Bowens
@SCRUZ808 – I completely agree with what you’re saying. Although Doc J has a bit of a point, in the context of the push in the back on the drive, it makes it less believable that Jones was just playing hard ‘d’ when he stuck out his foot.
Problem for the refs is they are supposed to take each play as an isolated event and not bring in the context of past plays. It’s a tough job, then again they probably missed it entirely as there was no foul called at all on the trip.
A.
Dr J-Water eh? The only thing you could be doctor of is Jizz you moron. Maybe next time you’ll open your eyes or keep your stupid mouth shut before you put up articles like this. You’ve just completely ruined and credibility that thehoopdoctors had.
I read your comment hating on the people who ball at the Y Rec. They may not be the best players in the world, but i’d rather play with someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing then some douche bag out to hurt people with dirty fouls. You don’t even deserve to play at any rec. gym. If people are “getting up in your face” then maybe you should stop being a douche and trying to hurt people. You Douche.