Rudy Fernandez is trying to put that nasty incident with Trevor Ariza in the past
But I think the headline writer for this story got a little carried away wth that “Forget about that foul — he has” stuff. In the body of the story, I didn’t see anything that indicates Rudy has ”forgotten” about it. What he said was, he didn’t want to talk about it. It’s in the past. He’s putting it behind him.
But trust me, he hasn’t forgotten about it. The Trail Blazers haven’t forgotten about it. The fans who were in the Rose Garden that night haven’t forgotten about it.
Nor should they.
When the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Garden tonight for the last time in the regular season, it’s probably the responsibility of every fan there to remind Ariza — loudly and constantly — that they didn’t much care for the act that put the popular Portland guard in an ambulance. Isn’t that what fans are for? Just don’t throw anything or do anyone any physical harm, OK?
The Lakers’ annual visits to Portland are always fun. Much anticipated. Tonight, with all that is at stake with the playoff seedings for both teams, should be extra special. I would advise Portland fans that as angry as they are about Ariza, don’t be distracted — he’s merely the sideshow. The game is the thing.
And really, Portland has the Lakers’ attention now, after routing them the last time here. It’s going to be an extremely difficult game to win, even though the Lakers are playing the second of a back-to-back.
Blazer fans, this is like the playoffs — which is unfamiliar territory in recent years. Let me give you some advice: If you want this one, you better bring it tonight. And you better bring it hard.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | April 10, 2009
Dwight Jaynes, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Rose Garden, Rudy Fernandez, Trevor Ariza
thats right Dwight, time to bring it. Cmon people, this is PLAYOFF BASKETBALL> Get off your butts and make some flippin’ NOISE!
Let’s also keep in mind that Brandon and Co have worked hard to erase the memory of the Jail Blazers, so let’s not screw it up by acting like idiot fans. Booing is fine – but let’s keep the death threats, profanity, and throwing objects out of it. It’s easy to get carried away in situations like this. As Ron Burgandy says, “Stay Classy” Portland.
I don’t see why Channing Frye couldn’t come in and lay a hospital visit on Ariza. We can live with a Channing Frye suspension.
Wow, Chris, show a little class.
You know, if this were football there would be something happening in retaliation. Remember the Beavers and Fresno State a few years ago? But, this is the NBA, so nothing will happen.
Dwight
Thanks for the excellent comments. Lets make it clear for the people who have not been around for Blazer playoff games…
Start yelling at the opening tip.
Continue until the final buzzer.
Your voice should not be able to be heard again until mid-week, leave it all in the Rose Garden.
THAT was not a hard foul, it was hard fall, and pretty much happened cuz his foot slipped while landing.
Get over it!
Certain players need to get booed on every touch in a big game. Karl Malone was one of them. The Lakers have Kobe, Ariza, Odom, Vujacic, Pau, etc. It’s probably easier to boo any time the Lakers have the ball, just to be safe.
Dwight,
Ariza really “pecks me off!” Did I use it correctly?
While I completely understand your being upset, I wish it wasn’t so. Ariza is a good guy who did not hurt Fernandez on purpose. As a Laker fan who enjoyed beating the old Jailblazers, your new group has me conflicted. I really like your team and try to watch them anytime I’m able to. It must be fun to be a Portland fan right now. I feel we can have a rivalry based on the game instead of an unfortunate accident. Past playoff meetings and the smack down you put on us last time should be the seed, not bitter misguided contempt. I know we are very easy to hate, but here’s hoping Ariza shakes Fernadez’s hand, you fans stay classy, and we see a great game on the court. Cheers! (until the playoffs…)
You all are inexperienced fans, misplacing your frustrations on Trevor Ariza. If you looked closely at the play, you would realize he went for the ball…and it was the landing that “hurt” Fernandez, not Ariza’s contact. Get over it.
@Wow – How exactly is a hard Channing Frye foul “not classy”?
Andrew Bynum put Gerald Wallace in the hospital with fractured ribs and a semi-collapsed lung. Bynum and Fisher also tag-teamed Oden. Odom has clotheslined Roy to the floor in a game two years ago. Now add Ariza to the list…
The Lakers were down 20 and Rudy had a clear path to the basket, so is chasing him down and hacking him in the head “classy”? When Tyson Chandler slaps Zilla’s broken hand, was that “classy”?
If we are going to succeed in the playoffs, then we’re going to have to get our hands dirty. Oden… Zilla…Frye…Ruffin…Bayless… They should all be ready to come in, play physical and send a message – “We’re not the Jail Blazers any more, but we sure aren’t choir boys either. You send one of our guys to the locker room, we’ll send a handful of your guys to the hospital.”
Classy means we send a “Get Well” card and release a statement about how “It was an unfortunate accident…”
Some people don’t seem to understand that Rudy’s landing was a result of Ariza’s sideswipe and elbow to the head… it’s not as if he could have controlled how he landed! Yeesh! That said, I think Ariza was going for the ball and that the elbow to the head was a by-product of his overaggressiveness.
Jason from LA is correct…. the foul was not that hard. The bad landing was, not the foul.
Robby and Jason — sure, the pilot was falling-down drunk… but it wasn’t him that killed those passengers, it was the impact with the ground when the plane nosedived that did.
– Dwight
Dwight, did you even see the foul ?
My Gawd Robby… I saw it time and again, first in person and then on TV… he grabbed his wrist, yanked him off balance and it kept him from landing on his feet. I’m not saying he did it intentionally — but it’s what happened. What a troll.
– Dwight
HAHAHAHAHA, Nice Dwight. He grabbed his wrist and yanked him off balance?? really? Next it will be he did a roundhouse kick from mid-court. I love the Blazers, but that’s just ridiculous.
Yeah, I’m going to have to agree with Dwight. Why would Rudy jump and purposely land on his hip? You Laker fans act like Ariza never touched him. He was over aggressive plain and simple.
Lakers play a physical game. They learned last year when they got punk’d by the celtics. Boston just manhandled them…
I think the foul on Rudy was also hard because the game was clearly in Portland’s control. There was no need to be that physical. Professionals lose their cool too.
I hate the Lakers. I hate verything about them. However, they did us a favor on our last meeting. They helped us realize the importance of being the aggressor and not falling for any of their cheap shots
We will keep our composure. We will keep our poise, and we will send you back to socal with another loss
and we will keep coming at you…get used to it
What all these ignorant Laker fans forget is that Ariza sized up Rudy and then cocked his hand all the way back to take a swing at him. He wasnt just going for the ball he was trying to smack it as hard as he could. It WAS a DANGEROUS play. And then he tryed to “man up” afterwords until Roy and company put him in his place. Bring it on Fakers. Tonight the Rose Garden is going to be LOUD.
You need to stop drinking the moonshine Dwight….
That’r right. WALK HARD!
I’ll be the first to admit we have Rose (garden) colored glasses when it comes to the Blazers, but there’s nothing worse than a smug L*kers fan…
The smug from San Francisco must be just choking off the air down there in LA.
YouTube the hit right now. Ariza swings down, then follows through AFTER the ball squirts out. As D-Jaynes points out, the initial hit is probably just a hard foul, but then he follows through and pulls Rudy off balance… in a blowout loss…
And if you believe Ariza is innocent because “the landing did the damage” then you take idiocy to a whole new level…
Dwight, could you re-write history? We need to revise the following events…
The canvas knocks out Frazier!
Cold water sinks Titanic!
Michael Strahan sets NFL sack record by playing in games where QBs mysteriously fall over!
Moving floor makes Amy Winehouse spill drink!
Rudy, just like Gerald Wallace, shouldn’t throw himself in the air with heavy traffic with such a frail body. Stick to the 3 point line. The paint is where big boys play.
It’s going to awesome when the Lakers pwn the Blazers on their home floor. The Blazers are toast. Write it down and take a picture.
Most people agree the foul was overblown.
We’ll see if the Lake show have the cajones to try a stunt tonight when we’re up by 30…again, tonight.
Ariza is guilty as sin. Bottom line, we were up 30 before he tomahawked a defenseless player over the head.
It was so out of context and uncalled for. In the past, I have advocated our guys to get tougher and give hard fouls but I hope they don’t stoop to that level.
I’ll settle for a 30 point blowout of the Fakers, that will send those banana dressed fans to the exits early.
I was at that game with my husband and I thought Ariza went for the ball but my husband thought he intentionally tried to hurt Rudy. After we got home that night we watched the replay over and over again– from every angle and in slow motion too. What I concluded was that Ariza was going for the ball, but when he didn’t get it, he hooked his arm deliberately and pulled Rudy down while Rudy was in the air– so dangerous. If memory serves, immediately prior to the foul, Rudy had just scored a 3 pointer that put the Blazers up by 30 points– then got fouled while driving to the basket on a fastbreak. There’s no denying that Ariza hooked his arm around Rudy’s left arm, you can clearly see it in the video. The question is, did he do it on purpose? I don’t believe that he deliberately planned to hurt Rudy. I do believe that he let his frustration rule his actions, and if the Lakers hadn’t been down by 30 Ariza would not have made the flagrant foul. People lose their cool in the midst of intense games and that was definitely happening to the Lakers that night– Emotions were so intense there was almost a bench clearing brawl because of that foul.
But I want to follow that by saying that just prior to the foul the energy in the Rose Garden was AMAZING!!! The whole arena was on their feet in the first quarter! I had never seen so many Laker fans at a Blazers game– I had a couple, both Blazer fans, sitting in front of me with their daughter who was wearing a Lakers’ jersey. Directly behind me were three friends– two Blazer fans & one Laker fan. There were a couple other Laker fans in my section too and until that foul, everyone was in a great mood and there was a lot of joking back and forth– nothing nasty, just all in good fun. But that foul changed the whole mood of the arena. It went from being fun and exciting to angry and intense– for everybody there. Most of the Laker fans left shortly after the foul, but at no time did I witness any bad behavior between opposing fans. I think the Lakers/Blazers rivalry is great and provides some of the best games in the West– it’s not that we hate the Lakers, per se– we love the rivalry, and talking trash about your opponent has always been part of the game
And don’t worry Dwight, you’ve been to enough games to know that Blazer fans bring it every night. Ariza will get the booing of his life.
Blazers are gonna lose. 30 is a dream buddy. I love Rudy but that was not a purposeful foul. Not a good play on Ariza’s part thats for sure… Just enjoy the game. Blazers are great to watch, don’t make people hate them just because of ignorant fans. Lakers are the best team in the league and will take it all this year!
“grabbed his wrist, yanked him off balance and it kept him from landing on his feet.” wow. thats pretty impressive while mid air in a split second. we’ll just call ariza “neo” from now on.
Lost in all ruckus of fans trying to hype tonight’s game up even further is a misconception that Ariza is a dirty player. Bill Laimbeer? THAT was a dirty player who consistently took cheap shots intended to injure opposing players. Ariza? Not even close. As a coach or teammate, you -want- to see your guys compete and challenge plays like Rudy’s shot. Sometimes it results in spectacular plays, blocked dunks often being the best of them. But in Ariza’s case it resulted in a very scary situation.
It also should be noted that Pau Gasol and Rudy have spent many years playing together as teammates, and when Rudy went down, Gasol instantly got up and starred nonstop at his FRIEND laying on the floor. Gasol’s concern was echoed on the Laker bench. ALL players can relate to seeing a teammate go down. No matter how the play evolved between Rudy and Trevor, the idea that the intent was to injure Rudy is the thought process of someone who has not seen Trevor play much, or else is out of touch with reality. Athletes are not soldiers in a war, even if they use a lot of the same lingo.
I understand why Blazers fans wanna get hyped up and yell. PLEASE DO! Frankly, that’s one of the best parts of games at the Rose Garden, THE FANS! The energy and crowd noise of Blazer home games (along w/ Jazz fans) is consistently loud and exciting, a stark contrast to the lethargic LA crowds. Boo Kobe, boo Ariza. And since Phil Jackson’s health is keeping him from making the trip, boo Kurt Rambis, too! There is zero doubt that the Rose Garden and its fans are far superior in their support of their team versus the Staples Center and all the too-cool-to-care SOBs sitting in their corporate seats.
But keep in mind the difference between “real” dirty players, and players competing. Sometimes the results of a play can blur the line. I’ve seen many a Laker fan scream bloody murder when Kobe ends up in a heap on the floor as a result of strong competition.
I’ve been a hoops fan nearly 40 years. I love the Lakers, always have. But I’m a hoops fan first. High school, college, womens. I love the game, even it it’s distorted NBA form. Frankly, I don’t consider the NBA to be “real” basketball. If you watched the recently concluded NCAA tournaments (including the womens), it would be impossible for the typical NBA fan to not wonder over and over how the refs didn’t call what were CLEARLY fouls. Oh wait, that’s right. It’s because in the NBA, with it’s long 82 game season, system that protects shooters and mish-mash of goofy rules fans learn to accept stuff that is nonexistent in every other basketball league. I’m not about to condone nor lambast Ariza’s foul on Fernandez, but I do recognize how and why it happened, and dirty play or malicious intent it was not.
Just have to say, it was a hard foul that shouldn’t have happened. I don’t think the intention was to injure but he did hit him in the head and pull him off balance with his follow through even though it appeared he was going for the ball. Even Roy’s issue wasn’t the foul but was the pumping out the chest while the guy was clearly injured in the course of the play. Ariza may not be a dirty player but hopefully he learned something about being a pro and not risking another player’s health when frustrated and down by 30 in the third quarter.
Oh, yeah, Blazers win…Blazers win.
Igor’s comments are typical of Laker fans.
In the minds of thier fans, the Lakers do no wrong. It was Rudy’s fault for having the audacity to try to score and easy buckets against their Royal Highnesses the Lakers. He ought to have stopped and handed the ball to Ariza in tribute.
C’mon Igor. Rudy wasn’t “in traffic” as you said. It was a breakaway dunk. The only player within 10 feet was Ariza.
I suspect you didn’t actually see the play. Yet you feel strongly enough that you know what you’re talking about that you’ll actually post a comment about the play.
Sadly typical of Laker fans. Arrogance that has no shame.
Ask yourself what Ariza was most likely trying to do: (1) Get the ball, (2) make sure Rudy couldn’t finish and get the and-one. That was all it was — for intention, anyway.
Now, should a guy with -skeels- know better than to tomahawk a guy who’s in full extension 30 inches off the ground? Oh hell yeah. If he does catch the arm the guy goes down in a heap, possibly hurting himself.
So I’d say his intention was within the bounds of the game, but his judgement and execution were, at best, overheated, and at worst, reckless. Should have gotten a suspension.
BTW, it won’t be much of a rivalry until we can scare them in the second season. But it sure was fun seeing Oden vs. Bynum and Kobe vs. Roy and thinking ‘I may get to see this for a lot more years…’
I should have added Lamarcus vs. Pau, too.
Brian’s comments are typical of reactionary, judgmental, completely biased and ignorant fans. He chooses to ignore the comments by us reasonable fans and highlight the bad apples of the bunch. Your hatred of us is predictable, boring, and laughable. You keep your prejudices and we’ll keep fueling them by sending you home again in the playoffs. How’s that for arrogance.
Jason, you doth protest too much, Dude. In fact, you’re guilty of the sins you describe. Brian, though puffed up and insulting, was at least correct about Igor’s illogical content.
To quote a famous Los Angelean: “Can’t we all just get along?”
Nah. I guess you’re right.
@ardie
True dat.