Oh there is no doubt about it, it was dirty for sure. I just think in slow motion it looks more like the De Sousa situation with the chair. Gets it above his head and then reconsiders and drops it. It looked like Davison went for the jewels, remembered, "Wait...I've tried this before and got in trouble for it. Shoot...my arms already out, what should I do now? I'VE GOT IT! I'll wrap my arm around his leg! That's a normal basketball move, right?"It was dirty no doubt. Then again, everything looks worse in slow-mo. Tough to pass up an opportunity to hit little McCaffrey in the nutsack.
If you watch at the end of the reply, his arm is definitely around "White Lightning's" leg. Does it make it less dirty? No. It's just a really weird situation he's put himself in.