Just as he defended Kobe Bryant’s last second jump shot Wednesday night, the Atlanta Hawks’ Dahntay Jones did not back away in defending his effort. The NBA said Jones fouled Bryant, who came down on Jones’ foot and suffered what the Los Angeles Lakers are calling a severely sprained left ankle; Jones said it was an accident born of tough defense.
Jones was the subject of much banter the day after the play, with observers weighing in from all fronts. The league’s statement that a foul should have been called on Jones with 3.9 seconds remaining was the biggest indictment against his play. But even at that, it was not suggested that it was a dirty play.
“I didn’t try to intentionally come up under him,” Jones said to ESPN. “I was trying to play as hard as I could, to compete at a high level, to try to help my team win and try to contest the jump shot.
“I didn’t want to give up on the play. I take pride in how hard I compete and not give up on plays, and that’s all I was trying to do. It would be very hard for me in a nine- second span to be able to play defense and gauge where I could get my foot up under his as I’m looking at the ball and trying to contest the jump shot.”
Bryant was fuming after the game, saying the referees needed to “protect” shooters by calling obvious fouls when defenders do not allow space for the offensive player to land.
“As defensive players, you can contest shots, but you can’t walk underneath players,” Bryant said. “That’s dangerous for the shooter.”
Bryant later tweeted: “#dangerousplay that should have been called. Period.”
He fell short of calling Jones a dirty player or that he would deliberately present a scenario where Bryant would get hurt. But Bryant did say, “I’m trying to get over the fact that I have to wait a year for revenge.”
