In the 2023 NBA playoffs, LeBron James was active. And Stephen Curry, and the league’s Most Valuable Player, Joel Embiid. Kyle Lowry keeps trying but oh hey does he need help. Even Nikola Jokic bowed.
Yes, this postseason showed the beauty of basketball. Rise, upset and dominate. The Miami Heat placed Kibosh in a comeback in the Eastern Conference Finals. But it’s also been undermined by players of all kinds — oh, Malik Monk, the Sacramento Kings’ sixth man — fall and shake As if stabbed with a cow goad.
All in a desperate attempt to trick the umpire into calling a foul.
Welcome to the National Basketball Floppers Association.
Of course, flopping is nothing new. In the 1970s, the legendary and mean-spirited leader of the Boston Celtics, Red Auerbach, lashed out on national television for game-dirty “Hollywood performances.”
“NBA failures are almost always overacting,” says Hollywood acting coach Anthony Girardi. “Watching them do their platformfalls and on-court stunts is so over the top it’s disgustingly hilarious.”
I asked Mr. Girardi to watch a video clip of a fake playoff fall and provide an assessment. He had seen most of the plays and was familiar with their subjects. He’s a Celtics fan and has seen all of Marcus Smart’s great failures.
According to Girardi, the player reacts to contact in a way that creates the illusion of a foul, and the reaction is so obvious that all the fans in the arena know the reaction is fake. There is a big difference, then. That’s the difference between what we see from an Oscar nominee and what we see from a run-of-the-mill soap opera actor.
“In soap operas, you often know absolutely that it is. acting,’” he stressed the words as when heat guard Max Strass bumps his shoulder. “Not subtle enough to create an illusion.”
Girardi made some suggestions for how hardwood entertainers hone their technique.
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Dig deeper into the parts. Even if it means limping after a foul is called, try your best to squeeze it out.
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When faking an injury, treat certain parts of the body correctly. You no longer have to hold your arm as if you were run over by a tank when you get hit in the chest.
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Relax and concentrate. Art consists in delicacy, not in the effort to persuade.
Doing all of this would make the deception less obvious than embarrassing officials, yelling at fans, laughing criticism from TV analysts, and a suit-down by the league office.
“If they were working on this the right way,” Girardi said.now or You’re good at acting. ”
After over a decade of trying and failing to stop the NBA from failing, today’s players can’t seem to help themselves. There are no numbers to back this up, but an eye test tells you everything there is to know. Flopping is rampant in playoffs like tumbleweed growing on a dusty desert plain.
Google “Matt Ishbier’s playoff mishap” Then you will see even the billionaire owner of the Phoenix Suns diving courtside.
After witnessing the Warriors’ heavy Western Conference semifinal loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State coach Steve Kerr personally appeals to end ‘gamesmanship’ and ‘cheating umpires’ trickery rice field.
His solution is to have NBA umpires call technical fouls on floppers, much like umpires do in international games. The league is currently reportedly considering Test run at the time of enforcement at the summer exhibition.
I say not so fast.
NBA umpires have had enough trouble deciding whether James Harden carrying the ball 10 steps en route to a layup deserves to be called travel. Now comes the added burden of determining in real time whether the foul is a proven foul or a straight-up misconduct. What are the chances of success? slim.
And remember Eleven years ago, the league announced plans to fine players who failed. Fines of $5,000 for relentlessly ambitious and billionaire athletes who walk on shards of glass to win were not effective enough.
The flop, which includes both acting and competition, is now part of the NBA. Flaunting athleticism and skill, a deep hunger for victory and showmanship, these are the attributes that characterize the League. It’s all part of the spectacle.
Why don’t you enjoy it? Perhaps we should embrace the flop rather than resist or demonize it, but demand better performance.
Take, for example, the dramatic back-to-back play between Jokic and James late in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. James’ performance was spectacular.
James erupted in vaudeville after Jokic bumped into him as he attempted a pass. His face twisted into a grimace. He twisted his 6-foot-9, 250-pound body, backpedaled, leaped backwards, slid halfway across the width of the court, landed at the feet of a courtside spectator, and held out a towel to James as the spectator drinks. spilled. He gave me a thank you syrup.
What a farce!
But the flop worked. A foul was called against Jokic and the ball was awarded to the Lakers. James was up, alert, in high spirits, and showed no sign of injury. In no time, he received an inbound pass and dribbled up the court.
Jokic and the Denver Nuggets still won the game and dominated the series. The concept of stopping Jokic seems purely theatrical, as he has played dominantly to take the team to the franchise’s first-ever NBA Finals.
