On Friday, Dirk Nowitzki was ejected from the Mavs-Jazz game after sending an elbow at Matt Harpring's grill. If you follow the league, you don't need to see the clip to know that Harpring deserved it: for the last five years, the dude's been one of the dirtiest players in the league. He picks fights with anyone and everyone.
When people call Harpring the quintessential Jerry Sloan player, they mean that (like John Stockton and Karl Malone) Harpring constantly punches, elbows, bumps, trips and muscles his opponent. It's something you adore if you root for the Jazz, and something you loathe if you're one of the six billion other people on the planet. With that in mind, this biased breakdown of what led to Dirk's elbow is just what the world needs to see.
It's not all Harpring -- Kyrylo Fesenko gets bumpy too and Andrei Kirilenko provides potentially the greatest flop in the history of the Western Civilization. But I don't blame Dirk. Do you?
The league hasn't told the Mavericks whether Dirk will be suspended for today's game against the Clippers. If there's any justice, instead of a suspension the league will grant him a Christmas bonus for his handiwork on Harpring's face.
UPDATE: Shortly after this posting went live, news broke that Dirk has in fact been suspended for today's game in L.A. Complete bollocks.
In Defense of Dirk Nowitzki's Elbow originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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