Thursday, May 8, 2008

Flop Log: Lakers-Jazz, Game 2

Second half only, video to follow.

3rd quarter

- 7:40 Odom falls after missed layup (looking for call? borderline)
- 7:20 Brewer(?) falls in the post after fouling Kobe... note to Brewer, you're supposed to fall if you get fouled, not the other way around
- 6:51 Kirilenko falls, foul on Okur (borderline)
- 5:21 D-Will, charge taken, (just modern defense)
* 3:55 Brewer flops, playing post defense, Walton with easy layup. (embarassing)
- 1:10 Kobe flails his arms while driving thru the lane (s.o.p.)
- 0:30 Walton falls backward playing post defense (mildly embarassing)

4th quarter

* 6:55 Harpring flails (twice) on off-the-ball contact in the lane, No Call
- 3:01 Vuijajic mini-flail, half-fall after Boozer pushes him back working for rebounding position. No Call. (embellishment)

Another item: I forget when it happened, It didn't seem like a flop at the time, so I didn't log it. But D-Will fell down after a driving shot attempt, in the aftermath, he was accidentally kicked (possibly in the man region, no good replays), and was lying hurt for a few seconds. But players will fall down enough on legit contact. With increased flopping, you get all these extra bodies lying in the lane, with high probability of getting kicked, stepped on, or otherwise tangled up with the feet of the still-standing. Once a flopper takes a serious foot to the face, I'm guessing the number of volunteer floppers will go way down. It's all fun and games when refs call non-extant calls, but if players notice the downside to flopping, maybe they'll rethink their choices.

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