Cavs “Big 3” Beat Toronto in Overtime
February 27, 2010OSU Beats Michigan & Continues Impressive Play as March Approaches
February 27, 2010As we await word on the MRI of Shaquille O’Neal’s severe thumb sprain (aka torn ligament), there still remain questions and controversy over how he was injured and what transpired shortly thereafter when he initially tried to play before being taken to the locker room. Shaq was injured when Glen “Big Baby” Davis came down hard across his arm and hand as Shaq attacked the rim. A foul was not called on the play but Shaq was clearly banged up and grabbed his hand while grimacing. On a subsequent possession before he exited to the locker room, TNT cameras showed Davis trying to grab at Shaq’s damaged hand as O’Neal posted up on Davis in the block.
While Davis is one of the few players in the league who approach Shaq when it comes to girth, O’Neal was still almost twice his size with at least 5 inches in height on the Celtics forward. Davis, at a clear size disadvantage against his fellow LSU alum, was perhaps seeking any possible way to even the matchup but it did appear that he purposefully tried to exacerbate the injury and “crossed the line.” The highlight package on TNT and Sportscenter included the sequence but I did not see much commentary on Davis’ actions. Bill Livingston addressed the issue in his column this morning and sought out comment from former Cavalier great Austin Carr who had some choice words on the matter which he directed at Big Baby.
Livingston was particularly pointed in his critique of Davis, but Carr provided the firepower:
When I played, you wouldn’t go after a guy on purpose…I thought what ‘Big Baby’ did showed the kind of character, or lack of it, that he has…He crossed the line…When I played, if a guy had a hand injury, I would go aggressively after the ball and try to knock it away. If I got his hand, too, it happens. I would not try purposely to hit his hand.”
Carr is a good resource on the physical nature of play and can speak to how, over time, much of the dirty play in the league has been eliminated with more stringent flagrant foul rules. You expect Carr to defend the Cavaliers at almost every turn but I think his viewpoint on Davis’ attempt to further injure Shaq is reasonable and one that is widely held.
It is doubtful that there will be any action taken by the league because while there is clear videotape that seems to provide the evidence, there is still room, however slim, to interpret Davis’ action as unintentional. Davis’ career has been riddled with dustups on the court. He is a big man whose role and position require him to be physical. The same goes for Shaq who will surely not forget the incident. As Carr put it,
Shaq will file that away and when the opportunity presents itself, he will take advantage of it. You don’t forget when a player tries to hurt you like that.”
UPDATE: Thanks to our commenters here is the video.
52 Comments
If you hurt your thumb and the player guarding you tried to mess with it the next time down the floor how would you react? You’d flip out. If Shaq felt Davis was trying to mess with his injured thumb don’t you think Shaq would have reacted a little more violently? If the roles were reversed and a BOS blog wrote about this we’d all get a big laugh out of it.
I keep seeing that defense but it doesn’t make sense to me.
We’re conceding that he sprained the thumb, right?
If that’s the case, there is more of a reaction when he pulls his hand away from Davis than there is in the initial hit (where he just presses his thumb into his index finger).
So, if it sprained on the first play and he didn’t really react, why do people expect him to cry or punch Davis when he messed with it?