Larry Brown Sports

Mark Jackson complained after the Golden State Warriors’ 107-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night that Denver sent “hitmen” at his best player, Steph Curry.

“[They] tried to send ‘hitmen’ on Steph [Curry],” Jackson said after the game.

When asked to elaborate, Jackson did.

“There were some dirty plays earlier. It’s playoff basketball, that’s alright. We owe them. Make no mistake about it: we went up 3-1 playing hard, physical, clean basketball. Not trying to hurt anybody.”

During the first quarter with the Nuggets up 9-5, Curry was running down the lane as the Warriors were about to set up an offensive play. As he was going down the key, Kenneth Faried tried to trip him. Curry has been battling an ankle injury during the series, so one could argue he was being targeted in the foot.

Then in the second quarter, Kosta Koufos fouled Curry twice as he was trying to shoot a shot from the wing. Curry pushed Koufos back in response and pointed at the big man.

About two minutes later, Andrew Bogut stepped in as an enforcer and pushed Faried in the throat, likely as retaliation.

According to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, the players disagreed on who’s targeting whom.

“They come out of nowhere, trying to throw elbows,” Curry said.

“They play dirty every night. They’ve targeted me,” said Faried.

Memo to Faried: you start it, Golden State will finish.

Game 6 on Thursday should be a fun one. Since it’s in Oakland, I would imagine it would be tougher for Nuggets players to get away with those plays in front of the opposing fans. I also expect the Warriors to close out the series.

The Denver Nuggets are facing elimination after losing their third straight game to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, giving the Warriors a 3-1 series lead. After David Lee was knocked out for the season because of an injury sustained in the first game of the playoffs, it seemed like Denver would have the upper hand. That has not been the case.

Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried has played well over the past two games, averaging 11.5 points and 9.5 rebounds, but it has not been enough. After his team lost Game 5 on Sunday, Faried’s frustrations got the best of him. He reportedly kicked a hole in the wall of the visitors locker room.

The hole in the visitor locker room wall, courtesy of Denver’s Kenneth Faried. twitpic.com/cmrju2

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) April 29, 2013

“I don’t know. I just kicked it,” he told USA Today’s Sam Amick after the game. “I hate to lose. I hate losing more than I like winning.”

Punching or kicking a standing object after a game is never a good idea. Players who do so put their health — and in turn their team — at risk by not controlling their emotions. Amar’e Stoudemire learned that first-hand when he punched a fire extinguisher last year and gashed his hand so bad he was left with this horrible scar. Fortunately, it does not appear Faried suffered any type of injury. The Nuggets need him if they want to mount a comeback.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Kenneth Faried by now, it’s that he just goes all-out on the court and doesn’t let anything distract him. The Manimal is so tenacious on the court that he even got inside Dwight Howard’s head in a recent game, leading to the Lakers center’s ejection.

When the second-year forward was informed of his monstrous stat line following Denver’s 108-105 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, he was so surprised he let out an s-bomb.

“19 and 19, did you think you were going to have a night like that?” Faried was asked.

“S—, I didn’t even know!” an impressed Faried exclaimed. “Excuse me! I didn’t even know. I didn’t even know. But I’m happy we got the win.”

His reaction was fantastic, and even the broadcast team didn’t seem to mind it because it was so genuine. This is the sort of thing coaches should be showing their players. While some guys will keep count of their stats and actually correct the stat keepers, others like Faried put their heads down, go hard, and don’t look up until the game is over. How can you not like Faried after this?

Chest bump to Spin It

Dwight Howard was ejected during the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 126-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday after he shoved Kenneth Faried to the ground.

Howard earned a Flagrant 2 foul and was immediately ejected for the move. He characterized his shove as a typical “hard foul” and claimed after the game that he was not intentionally trying to injure Faried. Nuggets coach George Karl felt differently.

“I thought he went intentionally to endanger him,” said Karl. “Kenneth, it looked like he was pretty stunned after that.”

What could have driven Howard to make such a dirty play? Faried thinks he got in Howard’s head with his play.

“I was getting in his head and he couldn’t get the rebounds,” said Faried, via the Los Angeles Times. “He wanted to, but I kept getting every rebound. It’s not like I said anything or talked to him. I just play.”

Faried says the Nuggets were out for revenge on Howard, whom he says did a lot of “laughing and giggling” during the Lakers’ 122-103 win over Denver on Nov. 30.

Faried, who is averaging a double-double this season, had 21 points and 15 rebounds in the win. He played like an animal, and definitely earned his “Manimal” nickname. How did he get the “Manimal” nickname? By doing exactly what he did to Dwight Howard.

Here’s Faried giving the background on his nickname to The Denver Post:

“So one of the guys from my agency came up with the name “Manimal” because I play hard, I’m frearless, I don’t care who the person is who I’m facing and I am going to challenge him. I am going to box out, I’m going to rebound So one of the guys from my agency came up with the name “Manimal” because I play hard, I’m frearless, I don’t care who the person is who I’m facing and I am going to challenge him. I am going to box out, I’m going to rebound.”

Howard is awaiting word from the league on whether he will face additional punishment. For as nice and charming of a guy off the court he seems to be, he can actually be pretty vicious on it.