Atlanta Hawks swingman Dahntay Jones defended his defensive strategy after last night's matchup with Kobe Bryant left the future hall of famer out indefinitely. Bryant suffered a severely sprained left ankle injury after landing awkwardly following a potential game-tying jumper with 3.9 seconds remaining.
"I didn't try to intentionally come up under him," Jones told ESPN on Thursday. "I was trying to play as hard as I could, to compete at a high level, to try to help my team win and try to contest the jump shot."
"I take pride in how hard I compete and not give up on plays, and that's all I was trying to do. It would be very hard for me in a nine-second span to be able to play defense and gauge where I could get my foot up under his as I'm looking at the ball and trying to contest the jump shot."
Bryant has been vocal in his displeasure of Jones' role in the altercation. "He Jalen Rose'd me," Bryant told ESPN referring to his injury in Game 2 of the 2001 NBA Finals (pictured above). "As defensive players, you can contest shots, but you can't walk underneath players."
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