Hooped Up

The LA Lakers just can’t beat the Blazers in Portland and the frustration is starting to show. Unfortunately, Rudy Fernandez felt the brunt of that frustration last night at the hands of Trevor Ariza and could miss some time. 

A delirious sellout crowd watched as the Blazers built leads as large as 30 points against the NBA’s best team, but for roughly 10 minutes at the end of the third quarter they stood silent as Blazers rookie Rudy Fernandez lay motionless on the court after Trevor Ariza fouled him from behind on a fast-break layup. Fernandez left the arena in a neck brace on a stretcher, and Ariza was ejected. ‘We played hard for him,’ said Brandon Roy, who led all scorers with 27 points. Blazers coach Nate McMillan said he was told Fernandez would be OK, and that he had full movement of his extremities. Late Monday, the team said Fernandez suffered a soft-tissue injury to his upper right chest. He remained in an area hospital overnight and is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s home game against Dallas.

I really don’t think Ariza meant for this play to go down like it did. But if you’re down by 28 points and your name isn’t Tayshaun Prince, what the F are you doing trying to get a block? If Fernandez was guy known for finishing on the break with lay ups, I’d kinda understand Ariza’s attempt to make a defensive play. At worse, he probably would have been called for goaltending if he was really going for the ball.

But when your chasing a player on the break that finishes with dunks, at that stage of the game just let the guy dunk because he already has too much separation.

As a four year pro, Ariza should know this by now.

Via The Oregonian