Zach Collins Plans to Appeal Flagrant Foul From Elbowing Russell Westbrook
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During the San Antonio Spurs' 143-138 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, Zach Collins was ejected from the game after receiving a flagrant two. It occurred during a play where his elbow came down on Russell Westbrook's face, causing him to bleed from his forehead.
Westbrook was stationed in the dunker's spot on the play and received a shovel pass from LeBron James. With James receiving the ball after rolling to the rim, he had to respect the threat of a finish attempt quickly. After James passed it to Westbrook, Collins then had to shift his hips to pressure Westbrook's finish quickly — resulting in a block on the initial attempt.
Westbrook recovered the ball after his first finish attempt was blocked. Then, he used a shot fake to create an advantage given he's deep in the paint with a 7-footer staying vertical to block him again. Collins reacted to the pump fake and his elbow came down on Westbrook's face.
“I blocked the first one, and I shouldn’t have jumped on the pump fake, but I jumped,” Collins said. “And then the worst thing you can do is give up an and-one in that situation, so I was just trying to come down and hit his arm so the ball wouldn’t get up to the rim. Unfortunately, my elbow just caught his head and he started bleeding and it looked terrible.
“But I honestly wasn’t trying to do anything. I just didn’t want him to get a shot off.”
Collins was playing his second game after missing 10 consecutive due to a non-displaced fracture in his left fibula. He put together a strong outing with 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in 19 minutes. Half of his points came from 3-point makes, too.
“I was in a good rhythm, and we were winning games, to go out in the middle of all that was super frustrating,” Collins said of his leg fracture. “With everything I went through before that, being out for a couple of years (with ankle and shoulder injuries), I didn’t want to miss any time for the rest of my career. But luckily the bright side was there was no surgery.That gave me a better attitude.”
When healthy, there is a lot to like about what Collins offers a team. He showed off how impactful he can be in his last outing against the Lakers.
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