In no way am I in support of Powell, especially given the post-foul antics he pulled.
But everyone is circulating this photo frame to show how "intentionally dirty" the foul was.
If you actually watch the frame-by-frame:
-Hopkins is driving left side but moving towards center/right of the hoop
-Powell comes over from the right
-Powell actually goes for the ball first and gets the ball first, he blocks downwards on the ball
-Hopkins left-to-right momentum and Powell's right-to-left momentum helps make the hand/arm to face contact more substantial
Again, it was a hard/excessive/some overaggressive/likely dirty intention foul...but there was at least an obvious attempt to go after the ball/block first. And the one frame distorts all of the happenings of the actual play.