Watching this flop..I can't understand how ppl say "Harden gets calls too, stop complaining about the refs". THIS is the type of shannagins fans hate about the NBA. Patty Mills was not making a basketball move. He wasn't even attempting to play defense. He wasn't trying to move his feet. This was all theatrics. Category 5 flopping. Name one player on the Rockets doing anything close to this? Yes Harden gets calls. But he's atleast making a shooting motion or driving to the rim. But THIS is complete bs. Unfortunately these are the type of calls the Rockets are up against. We can expect more of these ridiculous calls. Notice how excited the ref was to call that flop, he's CLEARLY trying to get a crowd reaction smh
Isn't the NBA still fining players for flopping? I would think Mill's flop would certainly merit a small fine.
Actually just rewatched from a different angle. Definitely a foul on Harden, but a ridiculous over-sell by Mills. Harden clearly uses his right hand on Mills' thigh to get around. Probably wasn't necessary and I'm sure many players get away with this all the time, but it's technically a foul so we really shouldn't complain. Nor should Spurs fans complain about the previous call against Aldridge. Did Harden oversell by throwing his head back? Yes. But Aldridge had his elbows high and that is a foul.
Have you ever been hit in the nose before? I don't understand why people think Harden "oversold" it. He took an elbow directly to the nose and his head moved in the same direction as the elbow. What is he supposed to do? Keep a stiff neck and make the elbow even worse?
Yes. Everyone who has ever played basketball, especially in the post, has been hit in the nose with an elbow. And no, it didn't move the same direction as the elbow. The elbow actually came down on the nose, not back into the nose. Aldridge had his elbow above Harden's head and brought it down. Didn't say he shouldn't have any reaction, just believe he threw his head back to grab the attention of the refs, as all other players do.
I honestly hadn't seen the play since it happened live and then the subsequent replays so I went and found a (low quality) replay: Harden's head moves directly in line with the elbow. I don't know why it matters whether the elbow hit the top of the nose or the back or front of the nose, the reaction to jerk away from the hit would be the same. No one but Harden himself could convince me that the head movement wasn't natural. Whenever i initially heard people saying he "oversold" it I assumed they were talking about how he "fell" down. That part screams "sell sell sell" way more than the head jerking back from being elbowed in the freaking nose.
I was going to go back and edit my initial response to include that. It doesn't matter to me when any player does it IF it's a legitimate foul, which this was. Which is why I'm not upset with Patty for overselling the foul on Harden. Nobody EVER can know what a player actually felt, so it's pure speculation on both our parts.
My main issue is Patty Mills' fake tough guy defense. He'll get in your face, reach in, grab you, but if you dare to do the smallest thing back to him, he goes flying. Play tough defense and stick to it, or soft D and flop... just pick one.
IMO, they need to start holding refs accountable and hand out fines and suspensions to the Refs for falling for this crap. Technicals dont matter much to most players after the game is already over and these fines are pennies for these players that make millions. But that's not ever gonna happen cuz Silver's keeping Stern's legacy going...
This makes him absolutely unwatchable. Dude is bumpin his little pecker all over you and then as soon as you move he throws himself like someone just lobbed a grenade in the room
I'm just glad the league still penalize players for flopping and I have no doubt in my mind Mills will be fined. Yup, he will definitely be fined. Damn
Only the second and fourth examples are obvious flops. The first one, Tyson does elbow him in the head (yes he falls down unnecessarily, but it's not blatant flopping). The third one I was at that game and Harden clearly just loses his balance and then dives for the ball. That last one wouldn't have been considered a flop if it weren't for Harden clutching at his face.
This is a terrible mindset. We're going to leave it to the players to determine what's a legitimate foul?
Of course, I'm using hyperbole to highlight absurdity. In the Mills-Harden case, it was the flailing by the player that created the foul call. What Harden did, foul or not, is no different than what Kawhi was doing all night and any other million things that doesn't get called. Generally fouls have to disrupt the play to a certain extent in order to actually be whistled. Flopping works because it gives the impression that a play was "disrupted" by some sort of contact, when it wasn't. That's also why Mills' wiggling was so late, Harden got him on the move, and after Mills realized Harden was past him he realized his best course of action was to act like he got stabbed in the brain. If flopping is OK at all, then one of these things must be true: A. Players should just always flop and hope the contact is a legitimate foul B. Any contact is a foul, and therefore players must flop in order to get a foul called I just can't get behind either one of those as a good idea.
