Hard foul or dirty play: Los Angeles’ Trevor Ariza gets after Portland’s Rudy Fernandez?
March 10 09
Yesterday, Los Angeles’ Trevor Ariza sent a message: unlike last year’s squad, the 2008-09 Lakers won’t give up uncontested lay-ups. Unfortunately, Portland’s Rudy Fernandez learned this point the hard way.
In the third quarter of the Lakers-Blazers contest, Ariza firmly fouled Fernandez on a breakaway lay-up, which caused the Spaniard to land awkwardly. Things nearly regressed into fight club with Portland’s Brandon Roy sticking up for his teammate.
"I usually try and keep a cool head about it, but he (Ariza) started bucking about it and I was upset because my guy is laying there on the ground and you’re talking trash. I was pretty upset about it." Roy, HoopsWorld.com
Fernandez lay motionless on the floor for several minutes and was carted away on a stretcher as a precaution. The recent Slam Dunk contestant should be fine, while Ariza received a flagrant 2 foul and automatic ejection.
39 Comments: Hard foul or dirty play: Los Angeles’ Trevor Ariza gets after (...)
Posted by kiki on 03.17.2009
GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .
Posted by
on 03.12.2009
shut the heck up all al laker haters, yall just mad cuz we the best team still .
Posted by Boston Celtics "2008-2009 NBA CHAMPIONS" on 03.12.2009
HAHAHA. Lots of Laker haters here! Im a Celtic fan but I do think the play was dirty. I respect L.A but I do believe they have gotten away with some calls and Kobe is being spoiled by the refs. .
Posted by
on 03.12.2009
all of u Lakers Haters sit back and cry at who is at the top of the league .
Posted by Optiplex on 03.11.2009
Yeah Ariza is a dirty player like the rest of the Lakers. Kobe is a criminal, it is expected for the Lakers to play like that. .
Posted by Shannon on 03.11.2009
it was a dirty play. Trevor Ariza had no reason to do that. .
Posted by
on 03.11.2009
i love lakers but i dont like that play that was stright up dirty .
Posted by Manny Pacquiao on 03.11.2009
The Lakers will get their a-------kicked anyways by the Spurs tommorow. I don’t care how much Ariza cheats and how dirty he is, but he will be taken to school. Also Kobe the rapist will also get his hands full as Bowen will make him miss , since Kobe is a ball hog. .
Posted by Nik to di tyme on 03.11.2009
he didn’t mean it !! Thats obvious .
Posted by ronh on 03.11.2009
Ariza has sent a message to the league the lakers are not that same soft team that got crushed by the celtics in the finals. This is a tougher laker team that play more physical in the future. .
Posted by
on 03.11.2009
To snitch ’Bryant had a smile on his face like he wanted to end Fernandez career’ cmon that cudve been anything a joke in the crowd an ironic smile at how stupid the call was or how Lakers cudve losing to a worse team like portland .
Posted by
on 03.11.2009
I think this is just a hard play, when both players are going 100%and the one dunking is off blance expect a hard fall, in the 80s it would have just been get up and shoot 2 free throws, ariza does not even attempt to hurt rudy watch glen davis flagrant 2 the other day that is an attempt to hurt someone, ariza went for the block and missed harden up .
Posted by kiki on 03.11.2009
to mike,... You a pussy! Ariza made a dirty play, didn’t u see rudys landing. He could have broken a neck! .
Posted by Mike on 03.10.2009
Portland fans and Laker Haters are a bunch of crybabies. The Haters hate because their teams, year in and year out, don’t have the cred, and rep. the Lakers do...not to mention the history of being winners with great players. If you look at the play, Ariza was clearly going for the ball, both he and Fernandez were off balance and Fernandez fell the hardest. I think it was a great play or great try by Ariza. This is how the game is played. Its old school ball. If Portland can’t take it, get off the court. Years ago Boston did the same to Kurt Rambis. Yeah, it was a hard foul, no one likes it, you do what you have to do, say what you have to say but then shut-up and play the game. I hope Fernandez is ok but I also hope Ariza does the same thing again and that the rest of the team follows his example of getting tough and contesting shots...and challenging dunks...showing some pride. Had he blocked the shot cleanly it would have been a great play and Fernandez, who was way off balance anyway, would still have gone crashing into the ground. The fall may have been unfortunate, but he was not shoved in the back or anything even close. Ariza tried to knock the ball out of his hand and ended up hooking his wrist instead....happens all the time. Quit crying! .
Posted by
on 03.10.2009
Ariza is evil .
Posted by Simon on 03.10.2009
The difference between a flagrant one and two is if the contact was intentional and/or excessive.
To me, this doesn’t look intentional at all, but it does look excessive.
Anyway, I think this wasn’t the right call because they seemed to have based the call on how Rudy fell as opposed to how Ariza hit him. .
Posted by Down with the Lake-show on 03.10.2009
Flagrant ... I hate LA Boo Kobe!!!! .
Posted by f la fans on 03.10.2009
yall stupid if yall hit somebody like that theres no way your not going to get at least a flagrant, if this was the 80s then yes thats a hard foul get up biatch and keep playing bc he going to get yo azz back eventually anyways, know in days the players are to soft don’t want to get hurt and the refs anytime someone goes down like that its going to be a F2 which it should be based on other F2’s i seen called .
Posted by brooklyn tony on 03.10.2009
I’m SO tired of refs calling the flagrant based on what happens AFTER the foul. He’s clearly going for the ball, and clearly takes the guy out in the process. THEN fernandez goes down hard—very hard—but not as a result of a push or a grab. I thought a flagrant had to be unecessary and malicious. This is niether. .
Posted by
on 03.10.2009
No way is that a flagrant 2. Hard foul, yes, but he went for the ball and RF landed badly. You can’t stop hard fouls between guys who are being as physical as they can when they want to win games. You got to stop the easy layup/dunk, thats all TA was tryng to do. .
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About Oly Sandor
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Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More
Yesterday, Los Angeles’ Trevor Ariza sent a message: unlike last year’s squad, the 2008-09 Lakers won’t give up uncontested lay-ups. Unfortunately, Portland’s Rudy Fernandez learned this point the hard way.
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