Harden doesn't flop. He initiates contact and forces refs to call a foul. Dirk flops because he exaggerates contact. The foul on prigs when they were fighting over a rebound was a perfect example.
I totally agree that Harden's flops was lightyears behind guys like Dirk and Chris Paul. But the whole idea of "initiating contact" bothers me a lot. It bothered me before we had a guy like Harden and it still bothers me. If you think that hack-a-whoever is against the spirit of basketball, you should also believe that "initiating contact" by the offensive player is against the spirit of basketball too. Intentionally jumping/running into defender, kicking out a leg when shooting, and ripping through, these are all ways to "initiate contact" with the sole purpose of getting foul calls. They supposedly have stopped calling the last two kinds, but still do the first kind regularly. That said, Harden's extending his arms out when driving to entice defenders to slap down is a legit way to draw fouls. Moving the body toward the defender when you could just go straight to the basket is not.
Went back and watched the game tonight. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone complain so much in a single game. Just shut up and play.
The dude easily gets these whistles cuz it's easy to spot his long hair and long, pale noodle arms flailing around. Dwight does not flop yet the refs blow, or not blow, the whistle on his plays. I guess he does need to flop like Dirk.
100% agree. I'll say what Harden did to Dirk is not that common. He'll do that once a game at most on a fast break. People confuse 'initiating' contact with driving into the lane and running into a defender that is rotating into the paint late though. Not saying you are saying this, but people will say he just recklessly crashes into the lane. Westbrook does this too and of course Westbrook gets as many calls as Harden does because it's hard for the defense to rotate quick enough to get into position to block or draw a charge properly.
