He’s been a media darling for a couple of seasons now and Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love’s most recent headline is drawing a lof of buzz, but in a bad way.
Friday night, Love and the T’Wolves were playing the Houston Rockets and he and forward Luis Scola got tripped up and Scola ended up on the ground. That’s when Love instead of stepping around or even stepping over Scola, stepped right on Scola’s face. Love told reporters after the game that the whole thing was unintentional.
“He was kind of right there,” Love said. “I have size-19 feet. He just happened to be there. I had nowhere to go. I kind of tripped up. I just had nowhere to step. It was a heat-of-the-moment type play. He was there and it happened to be his face.”
So Love’s big feet are to blame for making a mess of Scola’s face, a likely excuse. I wonder what else he blames his big feet for. Am I right ladies, or am I right?
In all seriousness, it sounds like Love didn’t mean to step on Scola’s face, though I’m not sure he didn’t mean to step on or over him. It also sounds like Scola isn’t taking any of it personal.
The NBA didn’t really seem to care about Love’s intentions. They’ve suspended him without pay for two games. All this really means is Michael Beasley is a lock to shoot 250 times combined in those two games. Here’s the video in case you missed the stomp and you be the judge.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SDf5QO_bko&w=453&h=284]
Update: Love issued an apology Monday after the league handed down their suspension:
“I want to publicly apologize to Luis Scola and the Houston Rockets. My intention is to never hurt another player on the basketball court. I’ve always had the utmost respect for the game of basketball and all of my opponents. I also apologize to my coaches, teammates and our fans for the consequences of my actions.”
It’ll be interesting to see how this affect’s the perception of Love from here on out. Right now it looks like most people are treating it as an isolated incident, but given his recent dust up with the Indiana Pacers, you have to wonder if both the league and the public will begin to put Love’s actions under a microscope.
