Stephen Jackson suffered an injury in Thursday night’s loss to the Knicks that was completely avoidable. And Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, as you might imagine, was none too pleased.
Late in the first quarter after taking a three-point attempt from the corner, Jackson’s momentum carries him slowly backward and out of bounds. A waitress taking an order from courtside fans was crouched down in the exact spot Jackson was headed, and inadvertently tripped him, causing him to leave the game and not return.
Speaking about the incident before his team’s win over the Sixers on Saturday (which Jackson was forced to miss), Popovich called for the league to do something about the issue.
From
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News:
“It’s maddening,” Popovich said of the incident in which Jackson lost his balance after running into a waitress during the first quarter of the Spurs-Knicks game. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Popovich expressed confidence the incident would spur the league to better control the sidelines during games.
“After what happened, I have no doubt the league has contacted teams to make sure everybody shores up their discipline in that area,” he said. “It’s obvious people shouldn’t be ordering beers or Cokes or hot dogs when the game is going on.”
The policy on wait staff serving courtside customers likely varies from arena to arena, in terms of when they should or shouldn’t be taking orders and delivering them. But the sideline areas are much closer to the court than say, the photographers along the baseline, so it’s more dangerous to have someone in that location, especially in a low position like that while the game is being played.
The baseline photographers are a similar hazard that should be looked into while the league is at it. But despite the long list of injuries to players who’ve tripped over either a camera or person sitting on the floor under the basket, there’s been no change to the distance between the court and where those photographers are allowed to be stationed.
The sideline thing seems like a much easier policy for the league to get its head around, so hopefully this injury to Jackson can further the cause to put a spotlight on player safety, and force the powers that be to put some stricter rules on the matter in place.
Related link:
Rockets suspend Royce White | ProBasketballTalk