Kevin Love has been suspended by the NBA for two games after using Luis Scola's face as a stepping stone in the Minnesota Timberwolves' Saturday win over the Houston Rockets. That means that Love will miss the Sacramento Kings' Tuesday visit to Minneapolis, which is pretty irrelevant because Jason Thompson would dominate him regardless, and now will just be forced to dominate Michael Beasley instead.
Love's stomp on Scola's head came a week after the Argentine saved a ball off of Love's sensitive parts. Apparently both feel the need to be deemed the dirtiest scruffy player in the league. Sadly, neither will ever catch the quasi-bearded Tony Allen for the honor.
The Kings visit the 4-20 New Orleans Hornets on Monday, riding a two-game win streak. Should the Kings manage to beat the Hornets and a Loveless Minnesota (how sad does that sound?), they would enter TNT Night with a record of 10-15.
0 recs | 80 comments
Hoping the team doesn't get too cocky & complacent
But liking no Jack tonight and no Love tomorrow night.
Good opportunity for two more wins.
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
Figuratively speaking
Wouldn’t the lack of Love cause an increase in the usage rate of Jack?
misterbrister - February 6, 2012
No Gordon or Top Hat tonight either
All we gotta do is stop Kaman down low.
thewaterispoison - February 6, 2012
So we can force it out of bounds like Scola did…That would stop him down low…
Too Soon???
Widowwolf - February 6, 2012
This team isn't good enough to take the Wolves
lightly without Love. I hope Smart can keep them focused.
StevenG - February 6, 2012
I have a feeling Darko and a wing player will really pick up the slack
Play some good D!
Letsgokings13 - February 6, 2012
Watch Wesley Johnson go off for 30 on us.
StevenG - February 6, 2012
Bealsey
.. I remember Beasley going off on us in a game last year for like 40 points. So, yeah. Let’s not take this lightly.
henryclemente - February 6, 2012
Freaking hated that game. It was in Sac too
Letsgokings13 - February 6, 2012
AND we'd be on a four game winning streak!!!!!!!
lets do this!! we’re comin up!!
yaboyrafa - February 6, 2012
Gotta win 3 before we can win 4
kangsfan - February 6, 2012
Well, at the very least we should dominate on the boards.
Love accounts for 30.9% of their rebounding total, and are quite under-sized behind him in the PF position (Derrick Williams, Beasley)
Wonderchild - February 6, 2012
+1
Also, Darko may not play with his bicep injury.
Wonderchild - February 6, 2012
With Love out the Kings should fly to victory.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
With Love out the Kings should fly to victory.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Sorry for the double, stupid me.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
I met these guys on the golf course and they asked me if I wanted to join them.
Big Mistake!. They said they couldn/t afford to bet which was okay with me but all they did was bump chests, slap faces and pinch noses which was a little annoying but the Yuck, Yucks got to me and it was really hard to concentrate on my golf game. Never again.
Bill2 - February 6, 2012
Nice!
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Why coitanly!
Letsgokings13 - February 6, 2012
Was that face stomp intentional or was it more of an accident?
I haven’t seen it yet.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Certainly looked intentional to me on the video.
Bill2 - February 6, 2012
I heard Scola say it was an accident to reporters after the game, lol.
Scola seems like a cool ass dude.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
I found it hard to tell for sure
It wasn’t as obvious as Suh’s stomp, with cleats. But it did seem like Love could have avoided it if he tried.
kinglet - February 6, 2012
Here yo go
elSAVinator - February 6, 2012
Retaliation?
elSAVinator - February 6, 2012
ohhh so they both got hit in the 'head'?
just different ones…
yaboyrafa - February 6, 2012
Haha did you watch the video?
Play-by-play guy: “Scola hit him in the stomach”
Clyde Drexler: “… the love stomach”.
henryclemente - February 6, 2012
The love stomach
Can’t…stop…laughing…oh it hurts. Call an ambulance. It’s funny on so many levels.
Lotusprime - February 6, 2012 via mobile
I was fine until you started this, now I can't stop laughing.
HighTops - February 6, 2012
thank you.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
It looked like he could of skipped past Scola without having to step on him.
He looked down at Scola before he followed through with his left foot. It was like Love was thinking about stepping over him but his rage wouldn’t allow him to. Nothing as vicious as Ndamukong Suh’s incident though.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Agree, he saw him and could've hopped
ElRonToro - February 6, 2012
Yeah, that's on purpose.
Carl - February 6, 2012
Looked clean to me
In fact, Scola bringing his arms up to ‘protect his face’ also managed to stop Love’s foot from going anywhere else BUT his face. Love’s comments were pretty much ’yeah, I stepped on his face, but I had to step somewhere."
Hardly - February 6, 2012
Gif starts too late
The whole clip shows Love look down and then make no effort to avoid him.
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
Looked clean to me
Yeah, he was off balance and trying to get moving and had to put the foot down somewhere. This officiating after the game sets a bad precedent, when it’s trying to say a guy should be able to avoid something on the floor while concentrating on following the ball.If the refs thought it was a foul they would have called it at the time. The NBA league office looks impartial and meddlesome when they call a player a liar and try to decipher his intent by looking at tape of a completed game and then overruling their own refs who were there on the scene.If I was love i’d be very pissed by their action.
Skeptic con Urquell - February 6, 2012
You're joking right?
Most nights, the referees are simply awful. I’m not sure Love deserved two games, but it’s not too much to ask to have the NBA review some of these issues.
otis29 - February 6, 2012
The whole fact that he didn't run back to see if Scola was okay or not,
and give any kind of indication that it was simple mistake tells me he did it on purpose.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
You mean while the play was going on at the other end?
There was no stoppage of play, you know that right?
otis29 - February 6, 2012
If I had just stomped on someone's face on accident, keeping the play going would be the last thing on my mind
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Not mine
You’re a professional basketball player, play to the whistle.
otis29 - February 6, 2012
I could be wrong though
I mean, Scola was pretty severely injured. Oh, wait…
otis29 - February 6, 2012
You and me are wired differently.
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Maybe
I think you’re applying rec league morality to a professional sport though.
otis29 - February 6, 2012
caring about hurting someone on accident can only be displayed when there's a timeout...
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
Sorry it bothers you
But I’d be pissed if one of our players didn’t get downcourt when something like that happened.
Now I’d probably agree with you if you were upset that Love didn’t check on Scola AFTER the play ended. But before then? Shit, if it’s accidental, not accidental, act of god, whatever – play to the whistle.
Scola gets compensated just fine to play professional basketball, as does Love. Make nicey nice after the whistle or after the game.
otis29 - February 6, 2012
Hey otis
I e-mailed you, did you get it?
Aykis16 - February 6, 2012
Sorry
I’ll go check it now…
otis29 - February 6, 2012
As a ref,
I don’t even stop a live ball for hurt players.
caseycheesecake - February 6, 2012
You're joking right?
no not at all, I’ve been watching sports since before instant replay and I don’t like the second guessin slo mo of what happens in real time. The game flow gets stopped and usually the refs got it right and if they don’t it always balances out. If you never inadvertently stepped on someone who’s fallen on the court or field you’ve haven’t played much.
Skeptic con Urquell - February 6, 2012
I agree it's hard to second guess the officials on calls in the moment.
For example, it’s much easier to spot a travel in real time from a certain spot on the court, than it is watching the play in slow motion from 3 different angles. I used to officiate basketball games to earn money in college (beats doing porn… barely).
However, in terms of reviewing a play like this, there is no reason why the league should not watch the play from all conceivable angles and make a decision. It is standard practice. The officials in this case would be racing up the court to see the rest of the play and likely did not see what Love did in real time.
However, while your opinion differs, most analysts (ESPN, Yahoo, etc.) and people on this board seem to agree the move was intentional. Love deserved to be punished and it certainly hasn’t hurt the credibility of the league.
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
Yeah, probably not going to argue this with you
I’ll just disagree with this and move along:
otis29 - February 6, 2012
Here is a link showing a different view.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/video-kevin-love-no-mincing-words-stomped-luis-164915189.html
Bill2 - February 6, 2012
Brutal.
caseycheesecake - February 6, 2012
Let's get 5 in a ROW!!!
Thunder will wish they never played in a BLACK OUT.
F3RRi3R - February 6, 2012
Even though the thunder are a great team
I like our chances Thursday. With the way we’ve been playing, at home (sellout most likely), BLACKOUT, and nat’l tv? We’l bring our A game in sure and give a good run, and hopefully pull the W
Letsgokings13 - February 6, 2012
Well I admire your optimism, but your definitely drinking some of this
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
OH YEAH!
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
On an related note, I am never drinking kool aid again
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
OH NO!!
DiegoKing - February 6, 2012
My advice: bring your own straw
betweentheeyes - February 6, 2012
Ew
section214 - February 6, 2012
I second this
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
Have to drink it, Kings for life
Letsgokings13 - February 6, 2012
Hell yeah!! Let’s make it be known to all teams that when you go to ARCO to play in a blackout the chances of you winning are 1 in 100!!!!
CousinsEvansDUO - February 6, 2012
If the Wizards can beat them
So can we!
thewaterispoison - February 6, 2012
good point
Maybe Durant will get injured before the game on TNT…lol
F3RRi3R - February 6, 2012
Donte Greene knows all his tricks!
Shizzo - February 7, 2012
Im sensing
a Travis Outlaw triple double
Slowstuff - February 6, 2012
10 minutes played, 0-10 from the field, 10 turnovers
Aykis16 - February 6, 2012
Yuck, yuck!
Bill2 - February 6, 2012
Sad thing is that would actually increase his PER
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
And this comment has 10 recs
How ironic
raiderking21 - February 6, 2012
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
MY FANTASY TEAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
LightningStrike5 - February 6, 2012
I'm curious to see how the TNT crew talks about the Kings.
It seems like in the past Barkley gets grumpy and kills them. I know he supports KJ so perhaps he’ll be a little more positive.
It would be great to get a national shout out for all the hard work everyone’s been doing.
Crocoduck - February 6, 2012 via mobile
Man I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!! Now we got a chance to win, I think it’s safe to safe we will win our 4th straight game in a row :) And then the thunder will fall victim to be 5th team in a row to fall to the unleashed kings.
CousinsEvansDUO - February 6, 2012
Less K-Love could mean more B-Love
Smoke ’em if you got ’em!
section214 - February 6, 2012
Most awkward and unflattering photo ever?
caseycheesecake - February 6, 2012
I thought this was an Aykis mashup at first.
SPTSJUNKIE - February 6, 2012
Maybe -
Maybe not.
section214 - February 6, 2012
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