Originally posted by KentoTo clarify: I am talking about why Jiren has detonated some of his energy balls *before* they've knocked certain characters out of the arena -- essentially saving them from elimination..?
Probably because doing so is basically killing them. And I bet Jiren is completely against such a thing.
Take Kale, for example: Jiren's energy ball could have easily knocked her out of the arena, and eliminated her from the Tourney. However, Jiren purposefully detonated it before that happened:
Why..?
We also saw the same basic thing happen when Jiren blasted Goku at the end of their battle in ep. 110, and again when he blasted Vegeta in ep. 122... It probably amounts to little more than plot/character-induced stupidity, but it got me wondering nonetheless... mmm