The NBA has come down on Minnesota Timberwolves star forward Kevin Love on Monday. The NBA announced that they have suspended Love for two games without pay for stepping on Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola’s face.
The NBA said he was suspended for “driving his foot into the upper body and face” and gave it Flagrant 2 foul. I think this is the right amount of games for Love; he is luckily he didn’t get more really.
Love isn’t known as a dirty player but this could change that reputation. Love is one of best young players in the NBA. He will likely make the USA Olympic team this summer.
So what did Love do? He stepped on Scola’s face.
The indecent happened in the 3rd quarter with the Timberwolves leading the Rockets 64-52. There was about a minute left in the 3rd quarter and Scola was backing Love down in the post. As Scola tried to make a move he fell to the ground after Love knocked the ball out of his hands forcing a turnover. The Timberwolves got possession of the ball and Love went to join the fast break with Scola still on the ground. In doing so Love’s left foot hits Scola on the face.
The Replays seem to show that Love was looking down when he stepped on Scola’s face. I think it is a pretty dirty play but I could see how some could say he didn’t do it on purpose and it was an accident. Nothing was called during the game and Love hasn’t been fined yet.
What makes me think that this wasn’t an accident is what happened last week between these two. About a week ago Scola threw the ball off Love’s groin when attempting to the save the ball from going out of bounds. I think this was just an accident as players always try to do this.
Scola handle this situation with class this is what he said after the game.
“I just don’t care about that play. The game is over.”
Here is what Love said.
“He was kind of right there … I have size-19 feet. He just happened to be there. I had nowhere to go. I kind of tripped up. I just had nowhere to step. It was a Heat-of-the-moment type play. He was there and it happened to be his face.””It happened to be his face, just like Houston, where it happened to be my groin.”
Love also apologized to Scola.
Video of Love stepping on Scola’s face.
Also getting suspended this for weekend for his actions was Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown. Br own is suspended one game and fined $25,000.
Brown got ejected in the Lakers game at Utah on Saturday. Brown just went crazy in the 4th quarter and looked to make contact with a referee. The Los Angeles Times has more details.
The Lakers coach could face a suspension after appearing to bump referee Zach Zarba early in the fourth quarter of a 96-87 loss to Utah on Saturday night at EnergySolutions Arena. Brown was upset after watching Utah guard Earl Watson mug Pau Gasol for a steal that led to a dunk by Derrick Favors with 8 minutes 35 seconds left in the game. The Lakers coach bounded onto the court and received two technical fouls, resulting in his first ejection of the season.
Brown said he apologized to his team but did not think his actions resulted in the defeat.
“I shouldn’t have done what I did because it put our team in a deeper hole than it was in,” Brown said. “It’s not good to do that. It’s not setting a good example or setting the right tone for our team.”
Check out video of Brown’s meltdown below (2:55 mark).
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Tags: Kevin Love, Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Brown