Derek Fisher fined $5K for flopping during Game 5 vs. Houston

GOOD!! soooooo lame , and fine Kevin Martin too

 

I thought Martin was the one that got credit for drawing the foul. Anyway, if you watch the replay from the overhead cam, you see Asik really runs into the both of them. He's that big. Both Martin and Fisher exxagerate the impact to sell the foul, but they both draw contact. So it doesn't make sense to me to fine one and not the other. If selling the contact is a flop, they both flopped. If selling is okay, neither flopped.

 

I watched the replay gif on the first page of this thread and I don't agree Martin was flopping. Martin was in the direct path of Asik who was running the to basket. Martin's fall from the collision with Asik looks genuine. Fisher, on the other, not at all. He was trying to get the contact by going to the side way. Moreover, after the fall, Fisher looked immediately to the referee for a call in his favor. That's a sure sign of selling out a foul. Scumbag.

 

Fisher completely shutdown Harden in Game 6 with no defensive help. And almost NONE of it was legal. He pulled the same cra* against Lin last year, but Lin had some Knicks teammates setting picks so he still went off. I find it hard to believe that Harden was so sick that he quivered at the sight of an ancient Fisher in his path. Harden clearly couldn't shoot because Fisher was allowed to whack him in the head on every follow through.

I am sick of the NBA selectively allowing this garbage basketball. Maybe they think Fisher is some cute girl so he is allowed to do whatever he wants on the court. Or they just selectively want Pistons basketball back, but in the form of a fake good guy Fisher package.

 

Stern is a corrupt little man, but he's good at what he does.

There were over a dozen fine-worthy flops from Fisher in that series. Why did he pick this one to make a "statement" about? Because the foul was given to Martin. This way, he avoids having to admit that one of his minions made a mistake. The officials bit on every Fisher flop the entire series, and undoubtedly would have here as well, had Martin not been equally good at it. That gave Stern the perfect cover fire to issue a fine without having to put blame on his officials.

The whole system is such a joke. $5K is pocket change to an NBA player. Same for $10K, $20K or whatever their "escalating system" for the playoffs leads to. Suspensions may help, but the bigger issue is that the officials face zero consequences for their actions. Fine them when they fall for it. Suspend them on repeated occasions.

Nothing defies the law of supply and demand quite like officiating. In almost any other profession, if there are TONS of readily available potential replacements (think about all the college games across the country), the job standard tends to be rather high. If Joey Crawford doesn't do his job, then bring in younger, cheaper replacements and work with them. It makes perfect sense, except for one factor: culture. The league has a very cozy relationship with its officials. They don't receive punishment when they screw up, and in turn they protect the league's interests, when possible. There's no specific guideline, of course -- the league needs plausible deniability. But each side has a general understanding of the other's position, so the circle remains relatively tight and hard to break into. As a result, the league has little interest in new officials or instituting any kind of serious discipline that could lead to change.

The player fines are for show, nothing else. Until the NBA gets a leader in place that will actually hold officials accountable for their actions, nothing is going to change.

 

To be fair, I think Stern, from what I've read, mentioned at a meeting one year ago that he wanted to start fining players for flopping. The owners were aghast.

Maybe the system we see in place is that political compromise. Stern looks like he did something about flopping. The refs make the calls, sometimes, during the regular season, but then, as usual, they revert to old habits and move away from making certain calls.

Stern could have fined Derek C***s***** Fisher for each of his flops in the series and reeeeeeeally sent a message; but that isn't his style, especially when he fears the perception of picking on a team that already lost a player of Westbrook's caliber and, probably, a real shot at the championship.

The flop rule kinda reminds me of Obamacare in the sense that, I think Stern/Obama wanted to do the right thing overall, but the compromise plan that emerged is weak and is more decorative ("see what I got done?") than a real difference-maker. And opposition is so strong that they don't go back and really fight to make it better.

Of course, in this case, Stern could send a memo right now to....whomever; but he's probably afraid to call out the refs in the middle of the playoffs, because they have a tendency for overzealously enforcing something when it's brought to their attention.

When Cuban complained during the playoffs of Yao Ming's "moving screens", all of a sudden, the refs not only call that foul, but every single other possible foul against that player and team, so as not to look like they didn't get the memo.

You could also see it in last year's finals. Harden's flopping against the Lakers in the WCF was so bad you could see how the refs adjusted---but too much so---in the NBA Finals against the Heat. I was at first glad to see Harden not getting the flop calls but then I started feeling sorry for him because every time he got near an opposing player he'd get a whistle.

NBA. Where bad refs happen.

 

You are delusional. Fisher shut Harden down because Harden is one of the most predictable offensive players in the league. Any smart defender like Fisher could be effective on him. All he does is try and get to the basket and draw a foul or else he jacks up a 3. A smart and savvy defender like Fish can contain him.

 

With all due respect, Harden is one of the best scorers in this league. Fisher was allowed to put his hands on Harden & has enough respect as a veteran not to get called for it. Plus you have to fear the flop, which along with his hack downs is Fisher's most effective weapon. Keep in mind, Fisher was run out of LA for his inability to contain quicker PGs. His lack of defense is the very reason he was run out of town, so on most nights he's not a stopper on most nights by any means.

 

........

 

This one has the overhead cam view:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cjuFE5XQHUA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Watching it a bunch more, I don't think it's a textbook flop, because Martin and Fisher both get some good contact. They're both selling a little. Honestly, Martin moreso because he didn't step up quite as much, so he doesn't take as much impact as Fisher.

But, from the overhead view, I think I'd call that a foul on Fisher before a charge on Asik. He's still moving when they collide. I don't think the flop is the problem here; Fisher arrived an instant too late and the foul should have been on him before the flop even mattered.

 

I think the worst and most obvious ones were when Harden just ran down court without the ball and Fisher just collapses to the floor

After that, I knew Fisher & Stern had some type of special relationship where Fisher gets gets away with murder. That whole series was officiated terrible against us

 

The double flop, a play that will live in infamy. It's like Fisher and Martin have practiced that play hundreds and hundreds of times. I guess it's just in their blood.

 

It's a good thing all the games were decided by blowouts. It would have been bad to award a possession to a flopper in a close game. Thanks stern.

 

$5,000 is not a deterrent when a well time flop can take away a possession and momentum in a key playoff game. Every player in the league would risk the slight possibility of paying $5,000 if they can get a turnover.

 

N (double flop) B (synchronized) A

 

Yep. What's $5k to someone wanting to advance in the playoffs? A flop can be a momentum changer and therefore a potential game changer.

I like to indulge in fantasy thinking to vent the frustration. Why not have these non-calls amenable to challenge like in the NFL. And if one is found guilty, his team forfeits the game. Everybody just packs up and leaves and the fans get a prorated refund. Same for TV providers. Prorated refund to subscribers. Seems fair to me. I think it would be effective. :grin:

 

Im more upset about durant hiting parsons in the balls... And perkins grabbing parsons for that curcial 3 might have cost us the game

 

Martin didn't flop, it's not his fault hes made of tissue paper!

 

It's amazing how many times the Thunder flopped in this series but obviously that's not the only reason we lost.

Still, though, the double flop is always an amusing thing to watch.

I have a mixed view here. I do think Harden can be predictable at times but it's not his unpredictability that makes him hard to stop. Just the fact that he's able to stick his hands out and force someone to grab his hands and shoot his free throws, combined with his overall great shooting ability, is what makes him hard to stop.

If it were as easy as you make it sound like to stop Harden there's no way Harden would have averaged anywhere near 20, much less 26, points a game.

That said I do think Fisher played really well in some ways but I can't help but agree with those who say Fisher got an awful lot of help from the officials.

To be fair to Fisher, though, it's not like he's the only player in the world who gets that treatment. I don't think it's good that any player does but Lebron James gets sent to the line just by being stared at. So Fisher isn't the absolute worst in that category.