A Kobe BOW? Say It Ain't So

So has Kobe Bryant become a member of the BOW club? I never thought I'd have to include him in this group, but apparently the NBA thought what he did to Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday was more intentional than it appeared and suspended the star guard from tonight's game against the New York Knicks. You can read the story here. In the closing seconds of regulation Sunday, Ginobili blocked Kobe's shot from the wing, but on the follow-through Kobe's arm came angling down in a strange fashion with his elbow catching Ginobili's face. To be honest, at the time it did cross my mind that what he did was done with a purpose but nothing was called so I quickly forgot about it. No foul, no technical, no ejection, nothing. It probably didn't help that Kobe seemed to coldly walk away after Ginobili was in obvious pain (as the photo shows) on the floor, although you could attribute Kobe's reaction as being in the spirit of the game since it came at a crucial moment and he was bound to be wrapped up in intensity. The other thing I thought was that maybe Kobe was trying to draw a foul call and therefore exaggerated the motion of his arm to draw the referee's attention. But now I've got to wonder if it had been Bruce Bowen or Michael Finley or Robert Horry guarding him and coming up with the blocked shot, would Kobe have flailed the same way? Incidentally, Kobe had this to say about the suspension: "I'm surprised. Shocked, by it, actually. I unintentionally caught Manu Ginobili. What do you say? It's a basketball game. You unintentionally catch people with elbows every once in a while." But NBA discipline czar Stu Jackson saw it differently, saying: "... this particular action by Kobe was an unnatural basketball motion... We did not view this as an inadvertent action." Hmm, that speaks volumes for the BOW theory. The other interesting factor here is that none of the Spurs players nor coach Greg Popovich said what Kobe did was intentional. Even Ginobili seemed to accept that this was just part of the game. See the video for yourself below and make your judgement.