Smart vs. Curry: Good Hustle, Or Dangerous Play?

[Cman]

Good grief. How could anyone think this was anything but a hustle play. It's a bummer for Steve Kerr and his team, but ... um... them's the breaks. It wasn't intentional.

[Donoghus]

It's only a conversation because Curry is a darling of the NBA and has a history of ankle/foot troubles. That, and Smart isn't exactly an ESPN favourite.

If Draymond does this and Grant Williams got hurt nobody would care at all.

Funny you mention that.  Go to roughly the 5:13 min mark of the 1st quarter last night.

[86MaxwellSmart]

How about Draymond trying to hit Al Horford in the nuts?...Now that was a dirty play.

[pokeKingCurtis]

How about Draymond trying to hit Al Horford in the nuts?...Now that was a dirty play.

Sadly All Horfords nuts are not worth as much as Steph Curry's ankles. That's the world we live in

[Moranis]

Basketball, when played at its best, at its highest level, is a very physical game. And much like in other highly physical games like football and hockey, the physicality even when playing within the rules, sometimes causes injuries. You simply can not make illegal all parts of the game that are physical simply to stop the possibility of injuries.

Blocking and tackling in football is a physical part of the game that can cause injury. Checking in hockey is a physical part of the game that can cause injury. Yes, there are very blatant types of these acts that are against the rules set in place to prevent injury, but they are easily seen and easy to enforce

Diving for loose balls is a physical part of basketball that can cause injury. And I believe there are very blatant forms of this act that can easily be seen and punished with flagrant fouls. It doesn't happen often, it's extremely rare, but it does happen and is punished.

Last night's game was an example of a clean dive for the ball that got someone injured. It happens. It's part of the game because it's a physical game. Trying to eliminate this part of the game is not in the best interest in how to teach the game, develop players or increase the enjoyment to watch the game.

Injuries are part of the game as they are in every physical sport. You play these games the "right" way and injuries are still going to happen. As a player and coach, you have to understand this and just live with it.

There is no reason to outlaw this portion of the game. It's a passionate play that can change momentum and alter the direction of a game. These plays are essential to basketball. You do not make them against the rules of the game.

In the last several years the NFL has outlawed chop blocks, low hits to the QB, hits to the head, etc. in a means to make the sport safer.  Banning a guy from diving into the legs of another player doesn't actually seem controversial to me.  It seems to be the more prudent thing as playoffs have been ruined by that sort of pretty easily preventable injury.  Curry probably doesn't play again until the post season and who knows just how injured he is even when he comes back.  The Warriors season could be lost because Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball and landed on Curry's ankle.

Gordon Hayward was out for an entire season following a slight shove from Crowder (and possibly) Lebron James, and has never been the same player. I don't recall you advocating a rule change when that happened. Why now?  That shove was intentional and more dangerous than Smart's, yet players do it a lot, and still do.  We see it almost every time a guy goes up. 

You keep misrepresenting the facts of what happened last night. Smart did not "dive into" Curry's leg. That implies an intent to hurt his leg, which is absurd.  He dove for the ball, not for Curry's leg; his momentum caused him to fall on Curry's foot.  For Curry, wrong place, wrong time.  **** happens.

To advocate a rule change that penalizes a player for hustling/diving for loose balls would be one of the worst suggestions I have seen come across this board, or any other, in a long time.   We need to see more plays like this, not ban them.  A freak injury is unfortunate, but these guys assume serious injury every time they step on the floor.

Just ask Gordon Hayward.

I didn't misrepresent anything (see the bolded).  It was within the rules, but that doesn't mean there isn't a greater risk of danger with that sort of play.  And at some point when it keeps happening more and more it becomes less of a rarity.  We've now had top tier players in consecutive seasons get ankle injuries near the end of the regular season when an opposing player dove for a loose ball (see Solomon Hill injuring Lebron last year).  A couple of months ago Nassir Little went flying across the court and nearly took out Irving who just happened to see him in time to get out of the way. 

If Crowder had dove at Hayward's legs, I would have said the same thing.  Players can get injured, but diving for loose balls is far more dangerous than most plays on the court.  I mean the NBA implemented the "Zaza" rule about encroaching on space of a player in the air, because players were getting hurt.  There is nothing inherently wrong with crowding a player in the air to get positioning on them to get box them out, get a rebound, etc. yet the NBA determined that play had a much higher risk of injury so they banned it.  I could absolutely see them taking a real look at diving for balls for a similar reason.  I don't think they would or should ban dives, but if you make contact with the lower body of a player, I could absolutely see that being a flagrant foul, in much the same way the NFL has protected its players (especially QB's) from lower extremity contact. 

[gouki88]

Contrarianism can get painfully boring.

[Celtics2021]

Contrarianism can get painfully boring.

I disagree.   

[18isGREATERthan72]

I think it was good hustle, but it's also (obviously) dangerous, but that doesn't mean there was ill intent by Marcus.

What is ironic about it, is that had Curry shown the same hustle on the play, and dove for the ball himself, he likely wouldn't have been standing and an injury might not have occurred.

[86MaxwellSmart]

I think it was good hustle, but it's also (obviously) dangerous, but that doesn't mean there was ill intent by Marcus.

What is ironic about it, is that had Curry shown the same hustle on the play, and dove for the ball himself, he likely wouldn't have been standing and an injury might not have occurred.

Yeah it was a weak effort by Curry to try and pick up the ball instead of diving for it.

[Kiorrik]

Had this discussion elsewhere too.

According to the rules: fair play.

Should those rules be changed?

Only if you care about athlete's health.

Currently, when someone loses the handle of the ball, it's LEGAL to dive at them, from behind, taking out their legs from underneath them, as long as you go straight for the ball.

According to the rules (or rather, according how games are being reffed) it seems legal to obliterate any number of ACLs as you do this.

Was this particular instance an accident? Sure. Was it legal? Sure. Was it dangerous? Well, clearly. Cuz the guy got hurt. Simply no discussion possible on that because, well, the result is right there.

Was it a dirty play? Depends on your definition of dirty. If it's purposely harming someone? Nope. Not dirty. If it's doing something with no regard of someone else's health? Debatable. This was a borderline incident regardless.

I wouldn't mind a rule being put in place to prevent this from happening. If everyone was like Smart we'd have a lot more injuries in the world. And honestly, whilst I love physical basketball, I don't think injuries are fun. At all. Ever.

So, yes, good hustle. Yes. Dangerous play. And apparently, yes, legal.

I guess I'm on team Kerr?

[KG Living Legend]

 Perkins said this and Vince Carter nodded in agreement, smiled and started clapping his hands.

"In high school, middle school, AAU we are taught, First man to hit the floor, Wins"

[pokeKingCurtis]

Watched it, I'm with Ime.

No ill intent, nothing wrong, a basketball play.

Fine with calling a foul, maybe makes players think twice about diving with ill intent.

But don't do any more beyond that.

[Chief]

I can now see why Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face.

[SHAQATTACK]

Curry also has the option of bailing out of the play , it’s a mans sport ,  with ruff guys playing , Green was right there and saw nothing wrong with Marcus making a play for the ball.  Steph got in the way of a hungry man hustling for a 50-50 ball .  This is east coast ball not sissy Laker girly   ball.  We were taught you dive for the ball ,  it may be the difference in winning or losing in a close game.

Basically anytime a loose ball happens somewhere on court  in an intensely played non Laker game , it has the potential of a injury for players deciding to involve themselves.

I admit, if Zion or Big Baby is diving for a loose ball ,  the best option is to get out of the way or get squished 

[timpiker]

This is Steve Kerr's fault that this is even worthy of a discussion.  No forget that.  Its not worthy of a discussion.  The header should say "Is Steve Kerr full of it?"  No, wait.  How about this - "Marcus Smart is the heart and soul of this team and should be DPOY".  That's what this discussion should be about.