Matt Barnes seems to be one of those players who has the stigma of reputation to deal with. Barnes is known as one of the league's most physical intimidators, someone who gets in the head of opponents, and someone who sometimes can play plain nasty.
Barnes received a flagrant foul on Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks for his actions here.
Matt Barnes Flagrant Foul on Dirk Nowitzki Mavericks vs Lakers 1/16/12 (via SportVidsHD)
But it turns out that punishment is premature. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times has more on the story.
Lakers Coach Mike Brown announced the news at the Lakers' All-Access event Tuesday night, which featured several Laker players and Brown speaking on a panel at Staples Center emceed by Lakers' play-by-play announcer Bill Macdonald.
"I got an e-mail today from Stu Jackson," Brown said referring to the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations in charge of player discipline. "They downgraded Matt's flagrant 1 foul to just a foul yesterday. That was not a flagrant foul."
Barnes does seem to be a victim of circumstance here. His reputation precedes him here and makes him out to be someone capable of malicious intent. Perhaps in this case he was just undert he line when it came to committing a violent act.
Don't expect Barnes to back off either, as he's always played with a violent streak, and will always be someone who straddles the line between basketball and boxing on the court.
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