Dahntay's inferno: Nuggets, 'unsportsmanlike' Jones better chill
DENVER -- There was a moment in the winning locker room Monday night that spoke volumes about Dahntay Jones' arrival to the Western Conference finals. It also exposed all these stories about the Nuggets' "growth" and "maturity" as, well, a little premature.
Jones was being interviewed about his blatant trip of Kobe Bryant in the third quarter of Game 4, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson calling it "unacceptable" and "unsportsmanlike basketball."
It didn't take long for Jackson's comments to reach Jones' teammate, Kenyon Martin, who shouted from a few lockers away, "You made it, dog! You're a dirty player!"
Those are the Nuggets. Call them rugged, resilient, emotional, or whatever you want to call them after they evened the series at 2-2 with a 120-101 victory against the exhausted, dilapidated Lakers on Monday night.
Just don't call them classy, because that's an argument you can't win right now.
And that's a shame, because with a couple of dirty plays, Jones is on the verge of spoiling an inspiring story of personal redemption and persistence. On an amazing team of rejects, retreads, and reprobates who've somehow coalesced into a dangerous and freakish basketball force, Jones' story is among the most inspirational. But all anyone will be talking about between now and Game 5 on Wednesday night in Los Angeles is how Jones has become the modern-day version of Anthony Mason. (Or, for our younger readers, Bruce Bowen.)
"Bowen is an all-defensive team member, and he did what he needed to do for his team," Jones said. "He has championship rings, he served a purpose for his teams, and it all worked out."
Whether Jones evolves into that kind of defender and pest remains to be seen, largely because he has almost certainly placed himself one flagrant foul away from a mandatory league suspension.
Jones already had two flagrant fouls (penalty one) in the playoffs before he stuck his leg out and tripped Bryant with about four minutes left in the third quarter Monday night. Jones' two-handed push in Bryant's back in Game 3 had been upgraded to a flagrant foul upon review by the league office, which won't need much time to upgrade Jones' latest transgression to his third flagrant of the playoffs.
If that happens -- and it absolutely should, given the blatant nature of the play -- Jones will have three flagrant points against him entering Game 5. Another flagrant foul-penalty one would result in an automatic one-game suspension. A more serious flagrant-two would get Jones suspended for two games.
Jones, for his part, employed the Iran-Contra defense -- "I don't remember the play," he said -- and insisted, "I think you're making too much of one play. ... I play hard and people don't like contact. People don't like you getting in their face. It's my job to frustrate and play hard and make [Bryant] work for things. If I just let him score on me every time, then I wouldn't be doing my job. I wouldn't be able to stay on the floor, so I don't understand what you people want me to do."
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Oh, play fair. Play by the rules. Bryant didn't have the ball and wasn't trying to score when Jones tripped him. Kobe had slipped past Jones at the foul line and was attempting to track a rebound. There are any number of legal things you can do in that case, but sticking your leg out and tripping someone is not one of them.
"Just unacceptable defense," Jackson said, "tripping guys and playing unsportsmanlike basketball."
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| Carmelo Anthony stretches Kobe Bryant's patience here, but it's nothing compared to what Dahntay Jones does. (Getty Images) |
"No, I just fell on my face for no reason," Bryant said. "I'm a klutz."
"Is Dahntay Jones playing you dirty?" was the next question.
"Good defense," Kobe deadpanned.
Now, let me point out Bryant has been known to kick out his leg or flail his arm after releasing a jump shot, as he did when his hand connected with Manu Ginobili's face in a game against San Antonio a couple of seasons ago, resulting in a one-game suspension. Bryant, himself, has five technical fouls in the playoffs, and has vowed not to get another one, because two more will result in a one-game suspension.
I have every reason to believe Bryant will keep his word, because his pursuit of a fourth championship is too important to be derailed by such nonsense. But when it comes to the Nuggets, I still don't trust them.
"My teammates don't think I'm dirty," Jones said. "My teammates think I play extremely hard. It would only be right that Phil would think I was dirty. ... I've been tripped. I've been knocked down. I've been thrown down. I see nobody coming to my defense and asking me about plays that happened to me. So when it happens to somebody that's in the limelight, it's a big thing."
And it's a big thing when it happens multiple times. As Martin pointed out, Jones is now a marked man. He has the label of a dirty player, and that means two things that can't end well for the Nuggets: 1) The Lakers will do their best to bait him into committing another flagrant; and 2) The officials will be watching his every move.
"If they read quotes and they let that dictate the way they call the game," Martin said, "then I can't control that."
Martin, too, easily could've been issued a flagrant in Game 2, when he fouled a vulnerable Trevor Ariza when the Lakers forward was in the air -- not going for the ball, but instead upending him with a well-placed, subtle shove to the arm when Ariza was defenseless. Martin was called for a personal foul, but no flagrant. It would've been his second of the playoffs; the other was a foul on Dirk Nowitzki in the Dallas series that also resulted in a $25,000 fine.
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Although the Nuggets were in control for most of Game 4, they managed to turn an otherwise inspiring, series-altering victory into a festival of flagrants, foul-mouthed taunting and techs. The Nuggets had three technicals, while the Lakers had one tech and one flagrant.
There's no telling what will transpire in Game 5, but suffice it to say, the Nuggets had better be careful. They are two wins away from the NBA Finals and cannot afford to be derailed by immaturity.
It's especially shameful that Jones has become that guy. Cast aside by Sacramento and Memphis, the two toilets of the NBA, Jones had every reason to believe his NBA career was over. While his agent, Mark Bartelstein, was negotiating with the Nuggets, Jones decided to join the D-League's Fort Wayne Mad Ants last spring to stay sharp.
"I just wanted to play basketball," Jones said, "and going to the CYO just wasn't going to do it for me."
It earned him a spot on Denver's summer league team, and Jones excelled. His reward was a well-deserved, one-year contract at the league minimum -- just shy of $1 million.
A shot at making an impact as a defensive specialist off the bench transformed into something infinitely better when the Nuggets made the transformational decision to trade Allen Iverson and his $20 million expiring contract to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. Suddenly, coach George Karl found himself looking around the locker room for a volunteer to start at shooting guard. Having proved his worth as a defender, Jones got the nod over J.R. Smith, whose 3-point shooting, Karl believed, would be a better weapon coming off the bench.
"Coach K told me when I was in school that my ability to play defense will keep me on the floor and give me a chance," said Jones, the latest in a long line of defensive specialists to graduate from Mike Krzyzewski's school of hard knocks and pesky 'D.' "I've just tried to take advantage of it."
But even Jones acknowledged that sometimes, "You can cross the line. You can take it too far." One more suspicious defensive maneuver, one more push to the back or well-placed foot upending somebody wearing purple and gold, and Jones will be right back where he was last spring. Watching the NBA playoffs on TV. And that would be a shame.
