Trevor Ariza's Foul on Rudy Fernandez Was Flagrant, Not Dirty

The Lakers haven't won in Portland since February of 2005, and once they fell behind by nine at the end of the first quarter on Monday, they didn't seem very interested in putting an end to that trend for the rest of the game. Trevor Ariza kept playing though, and even with his team down by 28 near the end of the third, he tried to stop Rudy Fernandez from dunking the ball, but mistimed his block attempt and ended up decking him instead.

An unfortunate incident, sure. But a flagrant two? I don't think so. Let's discuss -- video after the jump.

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When you look at the replay, all Ariza did was whiff on a block attempt, and (again, unfortunately) catch Fernandez in the head instead of getting his hand on the ball. Fernandez's fall was awkward, which led to the perceived severity of the play committed by Ariza. But honestly, it was neither a dirty nor a flagrant attempt by Ariza to send any kind of message.

Brandon Roy took exception to the foul, as any good teammate would when one of his own violently hits the deck like that. Understood, and Ariza's mouthing off back at Roy was honestly uncalled for given the circumstances.

But is this really a flagrant two foul that should warrant an automatic ejection? No, no it's not. And if the league is going to change something like Glen Davis' obvious head-hunting attempt down to a flagrant one, we can probably expect the same thing regarding this unfortunate (but unintentional) play from Ariza.

Most importantly, here's the update on Rudy's condition, via Blazer's Edge: "From the team: Rudy suffered soft tissue injury to his right upper chest/side area. The CT scan was negative. Will be kept overnight at the hospital for observation. He is questionable for Wednesday. -- Ben"