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

[Kernewek]

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.

I think this is possible. I do think there's a false binary here too, where 'good hustle' plays =/= dangerous plays.

For me: I think Smart made a hustle play and unfortunately Steph got hurt. That sucks: injuries suck. But playing basketball is inherently dangerous, to some degree, and I think diving for loose balls is part of that.

[Moranis]

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?

Glad to see I'm not alone on this one.

[kraidstar]

I can't believe this is even a debate. Smart made a great play and should be applauded. I love that there is still some physicality in the league, and I love the way the game is being reffed to allow for more contact.

And loose balls are a huge part of the game, and one of the most exciting parts of the game. Nothing gets a crowd going like a nice deflection, a dive on the floor, then a fast break the other way. It's one of the things that makes basketball great.

On a side note the Warriors' constant whining to the refs was insufferable and they should be embarrassed. The physical play went both ways, but the Celtics were just flat-out better. Wanna complain about the refs? How about you actually make some plays first.

[RJD1974]

Should those rules be changed?

Only if you care about athlete's health.

I'm waffling back and forth on this subject, but I just want to point out the following:

We need to call this what it is - how do we stop our favorite players from getting injured because that will lessen the quality of our entertainment. Framing it as caring about their health is disingenuous, because if we actually, truly cared about their health, with the amount of risks inherently involved, we wouldn't want them playing any of these sports.

[RJD1974]

...

(Wrong thread)

[gouki88]

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?

How many ACL's have been "obliterated" due to this legality?

[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?

How many ACL's have been "obliterated" due to this legality?

Going for the semantics when we're discussing a play where someone literally got hurt on a play is kinda useless m8.

[Kiorrik]

Should those rules be changed?

Only if you care about athlete's health.

I'm waffling back and forth on this subject, but I just want to point out the following:

We need to call this what it is - how do we stop our favorite players from getting injured because that will lessen the quality of our entertainment. Framing it as caring about their health is disingenuous, because if we actually, truly cared about their health, with the amount of risks inherently involved, we wouldn't want them playing any of these sports.

Yeah maybe we should all just stay indoors, wear helmets 24/7 and only have liquid food.

Point being; you gotta draw a line somewhere. And eliminating a rule that allows you to legally bust someone's career ... seems like not a bad plan.

Also, I'm in favour of culling some 22 games from the season. Spread it out a little. Give teams more time to practice, and less time to get hurt.

[Kernewek]

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?

How many ACL's have been "obliterated" due to this legality?

Going for the semantics when we're discussing a play where someone literally got hurt on a play is kinda useless m8.

That's why they banned layups after Shaun Livingston.

[gouki88]

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?

How many ACL's have been "obliterated" due to this legality?

Going for the semantics when we're discussing a play where someone literally got hurt on a play is kinda useless m8.

That's why they banned layups after Shaun Livingston.

Lol.

It's not semantics. If there is no real concrete harm when you consider how many loose balls are dived for every game vs the minute amounts of injuries that occur as a result, then it's just a beat-up about a total nonissue.

[LilRip]

Tatum and Harrison Barnes have both gone after loose balls in just the first half of this Kings game. Anyone up in arms about those plays yet?

[RPGenerate]

Tatum and Harrison Barnes have both gone after loose balls in just the first half of this Kings game. Anyone up in arms about those plays yet?

None, because there's no cry baby Kerr throwing a tantrum on the court.

[RPGenerate]

I just find it hilarious that opinions like "basketball needs to be even less physical" and "the refs need even more power to control the game" are actually being suggested in 2022.

[konkmv]

Kerr was a teammate of rodman and coaches Green..  Curry and Thompson have been protected by refs all these years.. and targets a player who made the right play just to create an bubble around their fragile stars... the message is just clear.. don't touch them.. I hate people who act spontaneous but have a plan

[pokeKingCurtis]

They should just play sarcastaball