In the waning moments of the Portland Trail Blazers’ recent close win against the Denver Nuggets, Blazers forward Toumani Camara wrapped up Nuggets center Nikola Jokic from behind… and forced a jump ball.
The play was decisive. The Nuggets, out of challenges, could do nothing but stare. And the NBA’s last two minute report confirmed the play was not, in fact a foul.
In an article from Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, Nuggets coach David Adelman, son of legendary Blazers’ coach Rick Adelman, took
exception to this interpretation:
“I do think you have to learn from what they say is legal,” Adelman said. “… If you’re allowed to wrap someone from behind with two arms (and) as long as you touch the ball, it’s a jump ball, that’s a fundamental I have to teach in practice. So we will definitely do that.”
Adelman wasn’t the only one who found the play unfair. From the same Denver Post article:
“I’ve never seen that one,” Nuggets forward Cam Johnson said. “I’ve been playing basketball a long time. I’ve never seen that one.”
On a recent Dunc’d On podcast – before the NBA’s last two minute report was released – host Nate Duncan (at about 20 minutes) chided Adelman for challenging a play moments earlier because, in Duncan’s view, the Camara wrap-up was obviously a foul:
Duncan: I’m sorry. That’s a foul. You can’t tie someone up cleanly when you are standing behind them, and you bear hug around them and also grab the ball with two hands. That is a foul. That should have been a foul. Instead it’s a jump ball with 1.4 [seconds] left.
Interpretations abound, but one thing is clear to me: Toumani Camara is getting Defensive Player of the Year respect from the officials. As a Blazers fan, you have to be VERY happy about that.
