High School Basketball Player Throws Haymaker At Opposing Player After Flopping Her Face Off
Source - 7:07 AM PT -- 11/10 -- The teenage girl who clobbered her opponent during a basketball game this weekend has been banned from playing in future AVAC United games, the organization tells us.
AVAC United is a group made up of teams in Southern California ... and they're the people behind the tourney.
Nikola Jokic may have competition for the fight of the week, and possibly fight of the month on a basketball court, but at least his was justified.
As the resident basketball officiating expert, as well as a former player who's collected a few technicals in his day, I find myself obligated to comment this situation and judge who's right and who's wrong.
First off, the offensive player flopped like a CHAMPION. Almost have to respect her craft here. I haven't seen an overreaction like this to non contact since Reggie Miller treated John Starks' head butt like a gunshot. She's 10000% wrong if she thinks it's a foul.
Also ... props to the official here. Perfect position as the trail. Watches the offense and the defense. The defense never initiates contact, the offense comes down clean. YET... this girl decides to throw her arm into the defender while she falls to the floor. If that's not enough of wrongdoing ... she takes a couple of steps and cold-clocks the poor girl with a blindsided punch. Awful move.
In footage of the play, you can see as both girls got back to their feet after the collision -- someone from the crowd appeared to yell, "You better hit her."
As the article explains , she was egged on by someone in the crowd. I'll double down here and say not only should the player be banned from AVAC games, they need to find this spectator and ban her. A spectator can make a nothing situation like this into a bad scene simply by their comments. Happens since the dawn of time and will always be a problem. Garbage.
Finally, what's my biggest issue with the entire scenario ? It was … SHIT SHOT SELECTION. My problems with the shot ranked in order: A- I wouldn't settle for a step in three this early in the possession. This isn't Mike D'Antoni's seven second offense… work the ball around. 2- The shot form isn't pretty. If this is a volume shooter this team's in trouble. D- THE ONLY REASON SHE GOT THE SHOT WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS TOO LAZY TO GET DOWN THE COURT. Walking back from the defensive end ? Come on. Hustle at all times or ask for a sub. Don't be feeding tired players bad shots. Won't happen in my AAU program that's for damn sure.
Punishment fits the crime. You throw a blindsided punch at someone like this when they did nothing wrong you deserve to sit for lengthy amount of time. In closing, respect yourself, respect your opponents, respect the officials.