The double-technical against Dirk Nowitzki and David West generated quite a bit of scrutiny. The penalty was assessed after the two power forwards got tangled up late in the fourth quarter – Nowitzki split West’s lip followed by West tapping his hand on Nowitzki’s face a couple of times.
“It’s a cop-out call,” Nowitzki said. “If two guys get into each other, it’s always a double-technical. That’s the nature of the league. The league tries to take all the physical plays and confrontations out of it.”
Nowitzki didn’t retaliate because he thought only West would get a ‘T.’ Tyson Chandler picked up a technical for shoving Nowitzki to the court in the third quarter.
The guys on TNT had plenty to say about the Nowitzki-West dust-up.
Charles Barkley: “I love Dirk Nowitzki, he’s a great player, but [the Hornets] are saying to you, ‘We think you are soft.’ That’s what it means. You have to slap his hand down and the Mavs have to say, ‘You can’t do that.’”
Magic Johnson: “I’m from the 80’s where something had to happen. Dirk, you have to do something or a teammate has got to do something. You can’t let a man, not in the playoffs, put his hands up on your face.”
Monday, April 21, 2008
More on the Dirk-West double-T
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I'm glad Dirk isn't a guy that will go stupid and swing on someone for something as little as this, possibly getting suspended at such an important time. I liked how he stepped in even closer when it was happening. It was like, "Keep it up, Buddy." Pride never seems to be a negative with him, as with so many others.
West needs to deal with a split lip; it's the Playoffs. And shouldn't the Hornets be upset with him for the T, let alone starting a potential suspension-warranting situation in Game 1?
I'll take my 'soft' MVP over anyone. Let him go off, and they can hold onto the 'soft' label as a consolation prize.
Post a Comment