Did Artest do it on purpose?

[lilmads]

He didn't mean to do it... As TDMVPDPOY said, who the would want Shaq of all people on their feet?! I know it seems like somethin he might try, but I don't think he did it.

[ObiwanGinobili]

Of course Artest and Bowen do stuff that's borderline dirty, that's part of what makes them crafty good. I don't think Artest did this to Shaq on purpose though. I don't think he'd intentionally risk Shaq crushing his foot in the landing.

Or intentionally risk the rest of Shaq's body landing square on his. ouch.

[romsey31]

I cant believe some people would even let nonsense like this cross their minds....seems to me Heat fans just cant take a beating.

[Solid D]

It looks like the verdict is in then. Artest didn't do it on purpose. Thanks for sounding off.

[Useruser666]

Shaq was in the air, what, maybe 2.3 seconds when grabbing that rebound? It would be pretty difficult to move into exact position for Shaq to land on your foot, especially when you weren't even looking down to see where your foot was placed.

I think Artest is an ass ,but that would be an amazing feat (no pun intended) if he were able to do that.

Shaq couldn't get into the air for 2.3 secs if you hung a whopper off the backboard and lit a stick of dynamite under him. And relax guys, SolidD is just doing a mind control experiment on you.

[Spurminator]

Shaq planted his back foot 2 feet behind himself. It was an odd landing anyway, and Artest's foot wasn't really anywhere near Shaq's body... just happened to be where his foot landed.

It looked like Shaq was going for style points on the rebound and paid for it.

[MiNuS]

one unlucky sprained ankle deserves another.


what is the NBA coming too?? No Amare and no Shaq! it looks like the Heat is setting up to lose home court advantage. So its either the Pistons or Pistons vs the Spurs.

[Notorious H.O.P.]

Of course Artest didn't do it on purpose, he is a warrior and a true defender unlike that depicable Bruce Bowen who's only intention is to injure others through his dirty play.

Actually I would say that he was coming into the center of the lane for the rebounding opportunity. But the idea isn't necessarily that Artest wouldn't have had time to place his foot properly under Shaq to cause a problem. In general, Bowen has been accused of getting his legs tangled with his opponents and if Artest had bad intentions, its just a matter of putting his legs in the way in general. That being said, it didn't look like he did this, it looked more like Shaq planted his foot farther back than he needed to.

Artest and Bowen's play is borderline or at least seems so because of their aggressive ways. Homervision causes us to see things in a different light but if you put yourself in the shoes of the OTHER team's fans, we would probably see things differently also.

[cheguevara]

Artest is innocent. Fat Shaq fell sprained his ankle on his own.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

If Artest is really willing to put himself under a 700 pound bowling falling to the earth then he's crazier than a crackhouse rat. I think he's innocent on this one, but if Ben Wallace busts an ankle under similar cir stances I may have to rethink this.

[mrose31]

You can look at replay on espn motion it did not look at all intentional.

[Summers]

Is it wrong that I actually feel sorry for Shaq? I'm having sympathy pains in my ankle, so it would be wrong to gloat. Plus, it's bad karma.

[fdmf]

Pacers are specializing in taking out Shaq, first Jermaine, now Ron

I had to read this ten times to get what you were saying...I thought you were making an O'neal reference...Shaq, Jermaine...and Ron O'neal...I was ready to give you a BIG PIMPIN card!

So...in a split second Artest sees Shaq shove to get the rebound...sees him in the air...says to himsef "wow...a 400 lb seven footer in the air....I'm putting my foot under there!!!"

And then...it started to rain...

[boo_radley]

I certainly hope that a guy wouldn't be so messed up as to intentionally hurt another player -- but this is Ron Artest we are talking about.

[duncan228]

Jack Ruby? Does this mean there was a second sneaker?