During Friday night's rugged Game 5, the Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis apparently swiped at Miami Heat forward Jae Crowder in a strange off-ball incident.
Early in the third quarter, Davis and Crowder got tangled up as the latter cut to the basket, causing both players to fall to the ground. As they tried to stand up, the Lakers All-Star seemed to cock his arm back and swing it at Crowder, making contact with the Heat forward's head.
Upon further review, the play has been compared to two notable incidents from recent postseasons—including one where Crowder, yet again, found himself on the wrong end of.
In Game 4 of the 2105 first-round matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, then-Cavs guard J.R. Smith hit Crowder, then a member of the Celtics, with a back-handed punch. Smith was slapped with a suspension, causing him to miss the first two games of Cleveland's next series against the Chicago Bulls, which the Cavs won in six games.
The Anthony Davis hit is being compared to this JR Smith hit to the face of Crowder a few years ago, which got a 2-game suspension in the playoffs for JR. https://t.co/5ych0pynb3
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 10, 2020
Other viewers drew comparisons between Davis' hit and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green's infamous punch to an extremely sensitive part of LeBron James' body in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Green was suspended for the next game, which began the series of events that led to Cleveland's historic comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to win the title.
Here is a better look at Anthony Davis hitting Jae Crowder in the face, and shown in comparison to Draymond's suspension-worthy crotch punch in 2016: pic.twitter.com/lYScUROVEY
— ParakHEAT Cortes (@Ryan_Cortes) October 10, 2020
Davis was not assessed a Flagrant-1 foul on Friday like Green was after the fact.
Davis was clearly compromised after he re-aggravated a heel contusion during the first half of Friday's game, which was much better news than a serious Achilles injury, as was initially speculated. Davis gutted out 42 minutes and is expected to be ready for Game 6 on Sunday.
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