Bogut and Green both got flagrants fouls on Faried, who seems to be the main perpetrator. They're attacking Steph, we're retaliating by letting our enforcers go after their enforcer. And IMO the one flagrant on Draymond was bullshit. The trouble with fouling Lawson is that if hes going 100 mph to the basket and you lay his ass out then you're really risking getting tossed or suspended. Everyone knows you're retaliating and were intentionally malicious. Its easier to take shots at Curry when hes weaving through traffic on screen plays constantly and hes got the gimpy ankle as a target. This series hasn't been over the top physicality-wise. I do think the Nuggets have set a few really suspect screens where they'll stick their legs out really fucking far and not even try to body Steph because they're going after the ankle. One in particular by McGee on the near baseline stands out. The refs called a foul because Curry tripped on his leg, but I think they really do want to fuck his ankle up. In the context of winning a playoff series its a big time grey area but you're also talking about Curry's entire career here. His ankles are vulnerable enough as is and these guys are going out of their way to further damage them? Is it ok to go after Rose's knee when he comes back? This. Hes just politicking. Karl has been bitching and moaning plenty, he just does it less dramatically. Coaches will go out of their way to bring shit like this up to protect their guys and make sure the refs will be on the lookout for certain violations. Its protecting your players, its giving your team an edge and taking away something the other team is trying to do. To not do this would be fucking moronic. But yeah, hes being extremely dramatic, and hes completely full of shit with his "Nuggets sources".
And FWIW I actually respect Curry for showing some balls when the Nuggets take their shots. He went right up to Faried after their tangle up and who knows what he said, but he definitely wasn't backing down. Same with Koufos later on. Obviously no ones going to get into a fight in that situation but neither Faried or Koufos even squared up to him and said anything back.
I really just don't see any reason to think they are targeting his ankle. Valiant effort to defend Jackson's comments, though.
Read the original post. He admitted Dale and Antonio Davis did that stuff. Jackson's saying the right things. As a coach, he's protecting his player.
I agree. The whining about Jackson working the refs and the media is worse than Jackson working the refs and the media. All good coaches do it when the playoffs are on the line. Wish Nate had.
Refs hear about it, players hear about it, coach hears about it, and especially Stern hears about it. Stern definitely doesn't want another star player hurt. He'll tell the refs to look for it.
Because it makes people talk about it, and since the Warriors next game is at home, I'm sure their fans now know about it. I assume you were just asking a rhetorical question, though, because every coach worth a shit does this in the playoffs. Especially since Faried clearly tripped Curry intentionally on at least one play, and was called for the foul.
One of my few criticisms of McMillan was that he rarely stood up for his players in the media. I remember one time he did.
I think bitching to the refs during the game is much more effective than to the media. Just look at Popovich as an example. George Karl is good at it too.
