What really happened in the Jazz-Lakers game!

[LazyTitanSmash]

The Real Story: November 17th – Jazz vs. Lakers

This is what made it into the paper the next morning:

Magic Johnson inbounds the ball to Norm Nixon.
Utah comes out in a full-court press.
Kurt Rambis is called for a foul.
Team Fouls – Jazz: 2, Lakers: 4
3rd Quarter | Time Remaining: 8:17 | Lakers 70, Jazz 62
Play is stopped due to an injury to James Donaldson.

That’s all they gave you.

But here’s what really happened. And if you weren’t in the arena, you didn’t see it. TV cameras missed everything. But the fans who were there? They’ll never forget it.

The build up

The game had been rough all night. The Jazz were coming in hot—pressing, grabbing, sending double teams at Magic the moment he crossed half-court. Xavier McDaniel, their rookie forward, was playing like his life depended on it. He was trying to win Rookie of the Year, and this was his chance to show up Magic Johnson, the two-time reigning MVP.
The Jazz weren’t backing down.

Two plays earlier, Otis Thorpe tried to put Norm Nixon on a poster. Nixon had no choice—he fouled him hard. It wasn’t dirty, just necessary. But Thorpe hit the ground hard, and the Jazz didn’t like it. Players were barking. Benches cleared. The Jazz were on edge. There were already rumors floating around that the Lakers front office had put bounties out to take out certain players. That wasn’t even about them—it was for Mike Mitchell, but they didn’t know that.
So when Nixon fouled Thorpe, and Kurt Rambis started yelling like Nixon had been intentionally trying to injure Otis, things started to tilt.

Also, earlier in the game Donaldson had told Rambis:
“This is a man’s game today. Stay on the perimeter, little man. Or you’re gonna have problems.”
But Rambis didn’t listen.

Things get out of control

Third quarter. 8:17 on the clock. Lakers up 70–62.
The Lakers broke the press—Magic handling it easy, pushing the ball up the court. All eyes were on him.
But on the other end, while everyone was watching Magic do Magic, Rambis walked straight up behind James Donaldson… and punched him in the balls.

Dead in the center. No play. No contact happening. Just a cheap, dirty shot.

Donaldson dropped immediately, his body buckling. He stumbled backward into the first row of seats, crashing headfirst into the crowd. At 7’2", 298 lbs, it was like watching a giant fall in slow motion.

His head got pinned under a seat, one leg bent awkwardly over the top of another seat. The other leg between the top and bottom of a third seat, his foot sticking out past the first row. He was twisted, trapped, completely exposed.

And then Rambis did the unthinkable.

He raised his foot and stomped down as hard as he could on Donaldson’s leg that was trapped—just above the ankle.
It was vicious. It was intentional. It was personal.

Rambis stomped so hard he lost his own balance and fell, then immediately started flopping around on the floor like he’d gotten tangled up in some accidental fall.

Donaldson just screamed.
Screamed.

He couldn’t move. Couldn’t get himself unstuck. Couldn’t stop the pain. The referees finally noticed something was wrong and waved the trainers over. The Lakers medical team sprinted across the floor.

It took nearly two minutes just to get his legs free from between the seats. When they got him out onto the hardwood, his leg looked broken in two places. There was visible tissue damage. One fan sitting nearby fainted.
Play stopped. The TV feed cut to commercial. In the building, you could hear a pin drop.
James Donaldson may be gone for the season and will probably never be the same player.

The Lakers’s Official Response

Lakers’ official letter to the league.

“The Lakers are officially asking the league to indefinitely suspend Kurt Rambis. This is not a 48-hour review. Rambis is a dirty player, and what happened tonight is proof. If the league refuses, we reserve the right to boycott all Jazz games.
And Magic? Will not be playing in Utah for the rest of the season. When the Lakers travel there, he will be “resting.”Jazz fans have lost the right to see the best player in the league perform in their building. If no action is taken, we will escalate. We will put a bounty on Kurt Rambis. Let the rest of the league deal with him. He should’ve never been paid this offseason. The Trailblazers were lucky to get rid of him and get rookies back. We believe his contract should be voided. There’s no place in this league for players like him.”

The league never responded publicly. No suspension. Nothing to see here.

And Rambis? After that night, he can join Mike Mitchell on the bounty list.
Because even if the refs didn’t see it, and the cameras missed it...
every Lakers player in that arena knows what he did.

[WigNosy]

OBJECTIVE: 826 Words (750-999 words = 3 points)
SUBJECTIVE: Very narrow (mostly focused on two teams); does advance the in-game lore of the heel version of Kurt Rambis. I was amused. +1 point for entertainment value.

TOTAL AWARD: 4 points