Is This Kenyon Martin Foul ‘Thuggery’?
The Kings aren’t just pissed about JR Smith running up the score on them, jacking three’s late in the fourth when Denver already had the game locked up. Sacramento owner Joe Maloof wants it to be known that he’s also mad about Kenyon Martin‘s foul on Spencer Hawes.
About 15 seconds into the above clip, Hawes charges through the lane and seems to catch a part of K-Mart’s knee as he’s trying to finish at the cup. But that’s not exactly how Maloof saw it.
“That was thuggery,” said Maloof, “and you can quote me on that. Kenyon Martin wasn’t trying to block the shot. He went right at Spencer when he was running full speed and at the (height) of his jump, when he was most vulnerable.
“Completely unnecessary. The Nuggets might not want to hear this, but there was no excuse for that, and he (Martin) needs to apologize to Spencer and our organization. That just wasn’t right.”
I’ve watched this replay about 10 times now, and it might just be the camera angle that we’re seeing it from, but it looked like Martin did go for the ball. He didn’t chop his arms down across Hawes, so any damage that K-Mart did was made simply by making contact with him when he was in the air.
Do you think Maloof is right in calling this foul ‘thuggery’?
Source: Real GM
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Steve Gomez 10a-2p on Hot 104.7 Modesto, CA says:
Thuggery?? No. He didn’t wind up and hit him. Dirty? Yes. He pushes Hawes while in mid-air. He never went after the ball. Isn’t that the definition of a flagerant 1?
April 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Doesn’t look like it from this video. I can’t even really tell what happened other than Kenyon pushing him. I don’t even think it was that dirty.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Diego says:
Can’t tell much from the video, but it doesn’t even look like there was much contact. Guy just seemed to miss his landing a bit. NOT “thuggery.”
April 15th, 2009 at 11:36 am
d says:
it was a lazy foul. I mean, I guess you could say he was going for the ball, but he hardly jumped. He should have just let him get the hoop. He did hit him when he was fully extended. I would absolutely not call this thuggery though. See The Malice at the Palace for thuggery. Or the Denver NY Knicks fight.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:38 am
thomasmmm says:
there wasn’t a lot of upper body contact; a bit of arm. the placement of the leg of martin looks like the proximal cause of the fall/foul.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Bruce says:
Man Up, Sacramento!
April 15th, 2009 at 11:59 am
nerditry says:
Thuggery? No.
Bitchcraft from both teams? Yes.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Fox says:
KMart is physical and is the man from his Bearcat Days, Maloof is a goof.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Big Island says:
D said it perfectly, it was a lazy foul. If Hawes were coming in at more of an angle, it would’ve been a dunk. I hate how soft the NBA has gotten. KMart (the real one) wasn’t trying to hurt him, just keeping him from getting a bucket because he was out of position to try to block it.
I can’t believe I wrote this much on such a garbage topic.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
BxBaller says:
I didn’t see anything wrong. The Kings need to man up.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
BERN BROGDEN says:
I’m glad you posted this. It wasn’t THUGGERY. NO, it absolutely wasn’t.
BUT. A VERY BIG BUT :: He should’ve been charged with a Flagrant 1 or a Tech.
Dude was in the air. Bottomline. Kenyon had no business pushing the man outta the air. No business whatsoever.
Me and my man saw that ish Monday and was talking about what wouldv’e happened if he did that to a “higher” profile team or on prime time television.
Yeah, he would’ve got t’d up or tossed.
Guaranteed.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Brown says:
The NBA, the No Balls Association.
What’s with all the bitching? You don’t like it, man up and do something about it on the court. All this crying foul after the game is bitch-made. This shit doesn’t happen in the NFL, NHL or even MLB. Payback is supposed to be a bitch, but in this case, the owner is.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
alex says:
all KMart fouls are of this kind
April 15th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
jason says:
I do think that making a big deal of this and calling it thuggary is over-reacting BUT this angle doesn’t really show you what happened. If you saw it live or saw a cleaner replay you would see that Martin pushed him under the arm pit hard while he was in the air. You can’t say that he went after ball becuase there is no physical way he could have gotten closeto the ball.
It was the correct call and the NBA needs to punish these types of fouls becuase they end careers. My guess is that all the “man-up” machos responding would feel different if it was their 20-year old first round draft pick whose career just passed before their eyes.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
everybodyisslow says:
quick question… does jr smith keep shooting threes late in the game if CHARLES OAKLEY is playing for the KINGS??
April 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Michorizo says:
The Kings are really making Sacramento look like Bitch Town.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
David Brandon says:
@ bruce and micho,
yeah, pretty much. a hard fouls a hard foul. those end when you fall usually. but the fact that you beat the team tryin’ to wild out on you? that lasts way after the foul. can we get blake griffin in here to get a mean streak goin on?? nobody’s scared of garcia’s fake ass scowl….
sac-town, stand the f*ck up…..why are the monarchs really runnin house??
April 15th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
JoeCozi says:
Any of you who say you saw nothing on this play have obviously never been pushed while in the air or don’t get high enough off the ground for it to matter if you are pushed in the air!!..lol..but for those of us who have, you know the most dangerous feeling is when someone does that type of play to you and what usually follows that type of play is a swing to the face for that bitch ass type of play!!
April 15th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Mike says:
He shoved him in the armpit/chest when you see the replay from the baseline.
Kenyon Martin is a wannabe tough guy- he took a cheap shot artist. You don’t push guys in the air- automatic tech if you aren’t going for the ball.
I think Martin should apologize to the city of Denver for being a weak-ass imposter of a power forward. Six rebounds a game? WTF? Weak.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Jay says:
The kings were complaining about Denver running up the score, but looking at the highlights the D from the kings was terrible!
April 16th, 2009 at 2:20 am
sans says:
Intentional foul–for sure. Thuggery? It’s not like he punched him in the back of the head or anything.
For real though, that would start a fight on any playground…
April 18th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
mackbeezy says:
maloof should apologize to the city of sacramento for blowing up a great franchise! they were a consistent contender, now they are pretenders. and now their owner is faking it too! don’t blame k-mart for your teams dismal season!