For the second game in a row, an All-Star player was taken out of the game after a hard fall after a player slid in front of them to try taking a charge. Ja Morant left the fourth quarter of Lakers-Grizzlies with a right hand injury after Anthony Davis stepped in front as he took off on a drive, resulting in Morant crashing hard to the floor and hurting his hand bracing the impact.
In Milwaukee in the next game of the afternoon, Giannis Antetokounmpo crashed to the floor as Kevin Love slid in front of a drive trying to take a charge, landing extremely hard on his back as he twisted through the air after contact. Love was given a blocking call for coming in late, but Giannis took the worst of it, going back to the locker room after shooting his free throws.
Giannis with a scary fall 😳
Fortunately, he's ok 🙏 pic.twitter.com/QaShNkKoUi
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 16, 2023
Giannis would try to give it a go after that, but only played another minute or so before exiting the game for good, with the team announcing he was out for the game with what is officially described as a “lower back contusion.”
Per Bucks PR, Giannis Antetokounmpo is OUT with a lower back contusion.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 16, 2023
Seeing a pair of star players leave Game 1 of the first round on the same type of play might just be the impetus the league needs to make some changes to rules on charges, particularly with players stepping in after the player has begun their upward motion for a layup or dunk. As some have posited, the league could look to deter such actions by using the same policy they use with jump shooters, protecting their landing space by issuing flagrant fouls for stepping under a shooter by doing the same for drivers that have people slide underneath them once in the air.
