Tuesday morning, during an appearance I made on a West Coast sports radio station, I was asked by the host if I thought Kevin Love‘s “stomping” of Luis Scola on Saturday night was intentional. I had to pause for a second, because it never crossed my mind that it wasn’t intentional.
Now that’s nothing against Kevin Love – it’s not like I think he’s a dirty player and have to come expect this type of stuff from him. On the contrary, I think Love is a great basketball player and an even better guy.
What went down on Saturday night Minnesota happens when warriors compete. Emotions run high in the trenches of the NBA (especially when guys are operating on an extra grueling travel/game schedule in league that already has the most grueling travel/game schedule of any professional sport). Add in the fact that these two particular players have had some chippy run-ins in the recent past? Yeah, fuses are short.
But the question is if Love’s stomp was intentional. Like I said earlier, it never occurred to me that it wasn’t. But response on that radio show and what I have seen online seems to suggest that fans are split. Love, himself, in his apologies and statements to the media after the fact (and after news of his two-game suspension), suggests it was an accident:
“I don’t want to be known for that. I want to be known as a stand-up guy who happened to make a mistake with a size 19 shoe and just move on. So everybody knows there were no ill intentions there.”
So here are two angles of the play. Check them out and let us know what you think:
Was Kevin Love’s stomp intentional? And was the two-game suspension warranted?
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