Loading ...Robert Horry fouls David West:
Hat tip: Basketbawful
From NBA.com
Illegal Screens/Picks
A screen or pick is when an offensive player gets to a legal position on the court in the path of a defender for the purpose of slowing down the defender or making him change directions. An illegal screen/pick is when the offensive player does not get into a legal position. When picking a stationary opponent from the backside, you must give that player a step. When picking a stationary player from the front or side, a player can go right next to him as long as he does not make illegal contact. If the opponent is moving, you must get to your position and give him an opportunity to stop and/or change direction. The speed of the player will determine the distance. You cannot just jump in front of a moving opponent at the last second.
Horry appears to be set at the 40 second mark of the video.
West then takes one more step before leaving his feet. Since he was moving, does that one step mean Horry gave him an opportunity to “stop and/or change direction?”
Regardless, Horry did not “jump in front of a moving opponent at the last second.”
May 16th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I read all this hubbub about the Horry-West thing on ESPN.com before actually seeing the replay (I missed the game). I expected it to at least be a hard illegal screen, but it wasn’t. After watching the replay 6 times, it looked like a completely legal screen to me. The only reason anything got called was because West fell down, and the only reason anyone is talking about it is because of what Horry did last year. I had no problems with the play. Horry set a legal screen, West hit him and hurt his already injured back. Nothing vindictive about the play at all (unlike the super obvious hip-check from last year).
May 16th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I COMPLETELY agree with Xphoenix87 (which is nice to say!).
The only reason the foul was on Horry is because West fell down and West is an all star with 4 fouls and a technical foul already. And xphoenix is right in that the only reason we are talking about it is that West pulled up lame and Horry was in an altercation this time last year.
What you can’t see about this clip, unless you are a Hornets fan, is that Darth Vader is just off camera, wearing a Spurs jersey and using the force to compel David West to run backwards without looking, and then jump into the air and stretch out his arms at the very instant he was about to bump into Robert Horry, who was standing well outside the no-charge circle with his feet set.
And why was Horry standing there in the first place with his wrists crossed at his belt line? Just prior to tipoff, Horry called Miss Cleo, his psychic, and was told to cut to the basket with 10:12 left in the game, and stand outside the key, because if he did, David West would leap backwards into the air and crash in to him and would have to leave the game. How else could Horry know how to make this dirty play look like an innocent back pick?
And of course this play had a critical impact on the game. When West went down, the Spurs were desperate because they were only leading by 21 points. But with West out of the way, the Spurs were able to give back some of that lead and win by just 19. Wahahaha!
Oh good grief!
West was grimacing all game about his back. It just happened this was the contact that set it off. West was in such distress that if it wasn’t this play, it would have been another.
People can’t HONESTLY think THIS is a dirty foul.
What people should really be talking about is Hornets’ coach, Byron Scott.
This injury is more Byron Scott’s fault than anyone.
There were 10 minutes left in the game and the hole the Hornets dug for themselves in the 3rd quarter wasn’t getting any shallower.
David West spent all of halftime getting treatment for his back, and was clearly in distress the second half.
Byron Scott wanted to win so badly that, rather than pull his injured all star forward, he pushed him until he broke down.
I’m not saying Scott should have cleared his bench with 10 minutes left and a 21 point deficit, but David West clearly should NOT have been in the game. It wasn’t just pain, it was his performance. He was 4 of 14 for 28%, was a step slow on defense, had 4 fouls and a technical foul. How was any of that going to get better in the final 10 minutes of the game?
Fortunately for the Hornets, they have a 3.5 day rest. That’s more than you usually get between games in a series, so West has time to get better.
But Byron Scott rolled the dice very foolishly.
It was NOT likely that the Hornets would rally in San Antonio, especially when West was so hampered.
Byron Scott gambled and lost, and his greed may have cost the Hornets the series, depending in part to David West’s health on Monday.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
The thing that I will say is deplorable is the way Spurs fans started chanting “HORRY, HORRY, HORRY” immediately after the play. You don’t do that when an opposing player is lying on the floor. You wait for him to get up, and you applaud as he leaves the floor. Cheering for an injury is classless and has no place in basketball.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Again, I agree with xphoenix.
I was also turned off by Marc Jackson’s comments. They showed the replay, asked if it was a dirty foul, and Jackson said that he knows of a bunch of “old school” players who are probably “chanting Robert Horry’s name right now.”
Marc Jackson inferred that this pick was legal, but intentionally set by Horry to take out West.
Again, West was hurt by his coach, not by Horry.
He was too injured to be playing, and Byron Scott put his all star forward in harms way in a hopeless 21 point deficit rather than concede game 6 and save his players for game 7 in New Orleans.