DASMACKDOWN wrote:Wingy wrote:CobyWhite0 wrote:
Yeah, if it wasn't for the windup, I'm not sure it's even a foul. He swiped the ball cleanly for sure - and this is coming from a person who irrationally hates Phoenix (the city, and through the transitive process all of its teams) for personal reasons.
I think the windup is ironically what actually made Cam get hit hard in the first place. I think Cam sees the big paw wound up, and then instinctively turns his face away. In turning his face away, he actually moves his head forward into a position to get hit. If Joker just went for a normal swipe, I don't think Cam has time to see it, and react to put his head in the way. That's not saying it's Cam's fault. I think he just reacted naturally to something he saw happening. It was excessive, and deserved a flagrant 1. Flagrant 2, nah. While it wouldn't have changed the series outcome, I'm sure Utah/LAC would've been happy to see Phoenix have to expend energy, and possibly get nicked up in another game, or two.
I think everyone's judgement of the play is clouded because it was Jokic and they wanted to see him out there.
But That was a text book flagrant 2. No question.
You have to remember that is a 7ft 300 pound man going full force swipe across a man half his size. He could have easily broken his nose or worse. The actual intent is irrelevant. He even said he wanted to hard foul out of frustration. He didnt want to hurt him for real but again, its irrelevant. He was probably trying to swipe his hands or arms, but caught his face. That error is the difference between F1 and F2. Everyone knows this.
There’s no such thing as a textbook F2 because the rule is so ambiguous. Here it is:
“Flagrant Foul Penalty 2: Unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent”
What does that even mean? Says nothing about intent, wind up, follow through, whatever.
To me a textbook F2 warranting an ejection is undercutting an airborne player, head hunting, high elbows in traffic, etc. These things are obviously intended to inflict harm and are not basketball plays.
Jokic was clearly, in every way, going for the ball. And then Payne poked his face into the swipe and got his nose grazed. That’s what happened. There’s no debating that.
So the question is, is “winding up” to swipe at a held ball, alone, enough to warrant an ejection. The rule certainly provides no guidance. And as a matter of common sense, in my view that is not even remotely enough.
Indeed, to me while it probably should still be a F1, it’s significantly closer to a downgrade to a common foul than it is to a F2. It was an absurd call.