Nuggets report: Martin not so flagrant

By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 17, 2008 at 9:36 p.m.

Text size  

• 1 Comment
• Email
• Print

Nuggets quick links

Drew on the NBA

Scores and statistics

• Nuggets statistics
• Nuggets schedule
• Nuggets roster
• NBA scoreboard
• NBA schedule

The NBA has downgraded a flagrant 2 foul against Kenyon Martin to a flagrant 1, but the Nuggets power forward still plans to appeal his case to the league office.

"I don't think it was flagrant at all by any stretch of the imagination," he said Monday. "I was meeting a screen, which is what people do in basketball every day. I've been a part of flagrant 1s and flagrant 2s over my nine years. Trust me, it was neither."

Martin was ejected in the fourth quarter of Denver's loss at Cleveland on Thursday after lowering his left shoulder to ward off a screen by Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao. Referee Joey Crawford ruled that Martin used "unnecessary and excessive" contact.

Martin also was fined $20,000 for verbal abuse of an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner.

The decision to downgrade the flagrant foul could be important later in the season. Players receive two points for a flagrant 2 and one point for a flagrant 1; they face an automatic one-game suspension for accumulating more than 5 points.

Atkins available

Nuggets guard Chucky Atkins will be available tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks after missing the season's first 10 games recovering from right knee surgery.

Atkins, who missed 50 games because of injuries last season, went through a full practice Monday but likely will not play unless the game is a blowout.

Notes: The sprained left wrist that caused Martin to sit out two games still is not 100 percent, but he said he has not had any setbacks while playing through the pain in the past three games. "It still bothers me, but I'll gut it out," he said. . . . Nene leads the NBA in field-goal percentage at 64.1 percent. . . . Of the Nuggets' six wins, five have come against teams currently under .500. . . . Redd, who was teammates with Anthony on the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in Beijing, has missed the past seven games but is believed to be close to returning. . . . Bogut is averaging 10.3 points and 12.5 rebounds in four games against Western Conference teams this season. . . . The Nuggets have won 14 of the past 17 against Milwaukee at home and nine of 12 overall.

• November 18, 2008

  8:38 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  wj_nugs writes:

  What the heck is Joey Crawford even doing in the league? That zebra is about as bad as it gets and I always get worried when he refs the Nugs' games. He has issues with players and from I can see, has personal vendettas against many of the players. He should have been kicked out of the league when he wanted to fight Duncan...
  Congrats Joey...

Featured

• DNC in Denver

  

  Complete coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

• The Crevasse

  

  A five-part series that examines one tragic day on Mount Rainier.

• Deadly denial

  

  Sick nuclear workers applied for government compensation but most haven't seen a dime.

• Final Salute

  

  The Rocky followed Maj. Steve Beck as he took on the most difficult duty of his career.

• 'Colorado's burning'

  

  Coverage of the state's worst wildfires.

• Columbine shootings

  

  Coverage of the April 20, 1999, shootings at Littleton's Columbine High School.

• The Crossing

  

  Colorado's deadliest traffic accident killed 20 children on Dec. 14, 1961.

• Osveli's journey

  

  Osveli Sales left Guatemala for a better life. Two months later, he came home in a box.

• Wake for an Indian warrior

  

  Oglala Sioux bestow a tribute to the first tribal fatality in Iraq.