Flop of the game, game six...

[Joe Tango from San Diego]

Sabbatical must mean visit less... anyway, truehoop had this article about the dubious Manu screen that was called a foul...
Flop of the Night: James Harden - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN

There is an even better "bonus" flop that draws a foul against Sjax...

I know its fuel to the conspiracy fire, but what did we all "really" witness?

[JuanCaca]

in a unrelated note, please caption this! :P:P:P

[Uwe Blab]

James Harden enrages me with his flopping. The funny thing is, Manu did that to others in his prime. I guess the shoe is on the other foot now.

[Joe Tango from San Diego]

True, but when its your dude, its crafty.. Since its the beard who for some reason I cannot find anything redeeming about in his game or his attitude, its disgusting the flopping that he does...

[Uwe Blab]

Originally Posted by Joe Tango from San Diego

True, but when its your dude, its crafty.. Since its the beard who for some reason I cannot find anything redeeming about in his game or his attitude, its disgusting the flopping that he does...

They are not supposed to be rewarding flopping, but for some reason they allowed it this series. They aren't supposed to reward the forced fouls, like throwing your body into a defender, bringing your arm up into a defenders arm (ala Timmy 2003). But yet they allowed it this series. Why was it allowed? Why was the officiating so egregiously lopsided in game 6 with no repercussions? So many questions we will never know the answer to.

[Duncan21MVP]

In the NHL, a player who embellishes is called for diving. Even on a play where a player is hooked or interfered with, if he goes to the ice as if shot by an elephant gun (as Harden did on the court multiple times Wednesday night), the player goes to the box for two minutes for "Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Diving."

The NBA really, really needs to do something similar -- call the foul, fine. But also call a personal foul and technical foul on the flopper, and count those techs against the max you get before suspension. I guarantee you, this will put an end to this childishness. It's an offense to the refs to do all this play-acting, it's an offense to the fans to manipulate games by enabling inferior teams to game the system to get wins, and it is just plain stupid. I'm not saying that OKC was inferior to us, but we'll never quite know, now will we? We were on our way to a seven-game series that could've been one for the ages, but instead the incessant whistles made the game unwatchable -- even to fans who don't have a dog in the fight and who couldn't care less about which team represented the West.

Yes, we employed this tactic with success ... more or less pioneering this dubious behavior. But it's gotten out of hand, and I don't say that just because we got burned by it.

The only thing missing from that laughable Game 6 was some Shaqery-hackery to take what remaining excitement existed out of the game. Seriously. Pop should've found someone with a sub-80% FT percentage and start hacking away. That'd have been the icing on the cake.

As soon as the four teams in the Conference Finals were set, I would've bet anything that WAS NOT going to be the Spurs and Celtics. Tonight, Stern will get his wish for the Heat and Thunder. ... The Young Guns versus the Unholy Triumvirate.

[katyspursfan]

Every time I watch this play, I still think it's an offensive foul. I see Harden trying to get to Leonard, but Manu stops him with a moving screen.

Spurs were beaten by a better team. There might only be a couple in the NBA, but OKC is one of them.

[theinswes]

no spur fan should EVER be allowed to complain of another team's flopping. we won rings thanks in part to the flopping of guys like Manu, Tony, Oberto, HORRY, Bowen... i love manu's game IN SPITE of his flopping, but i do hope the league is able to start cutting down on flops (by fining players after games or just not making those calls).

[Joe Tango from San Diego]

Its about the refs, not the flopping. The Ginobili charge on durant, the no call hit to Leonard's head that resulted in an extra possession. I do not like to call out refs, but sometimes, you just have to. Look at the one scene in the fourth quarter where one by one, Parker, then Duncan, then Ginobili all talking individually to kennedy imploring that they (the refs) are taking the game away from them. That is exactly what happened.

FYI, stern's hatchet man, joey crawford, was the lead ref in game seven. The celtics were screwed before the game even started...

[katyspursfan]

For someone who doesn't like to call out the refs, you sure do a good job.

Celtics were up with 8 minutes to go. Crawford had nothing to do with the loss. MIA stepped on the gas, and BOS couldn't keep up. Sound familiar?

[Chris ChrusherComix]

The difference was that Miami won without the help of the refs. But earlier in the series, BOTH teams were complaining that the refs were meddling far too much.

In our series, they let them play for the first three games and then screwed us in the last three. But it isn't one or two or three calls like everyone is pointing to. It is also what DOESN'T get called on the other end on top of what DOES get called on another. These things, especially in crucial moments late in games - are 5-20 point swings in games decided by 5-20 points! Momentum, crowd, shots, perception... these things are so fragile, and refs are master manipulators. All those 20 point swings all season? You think one team is professional for half a game and “manure” the other half at the same exact time that the vice versa happens to the other team? Hundreds of times per season? Especially THIS one? No. This is caused by refs manipulating the outcome, and it was accelerated this year, probably to get back audiences lost during the lockout. They enjoy doing it too. It's fun for them, and either the league allows it or even dictates it. Such is the NBA. People who disagree that this happen are willingly blind, purposefully ignorant because they don’t WANT to believe that it’s true, or just drunk watching the games. You put a ref uniform on me and put me on a basketball court, and the team I want to win WILL win. Have a problem? I’ll eject your @$$ and my league will fine you. Period. You make your millions and get your fame and we’ll keep getting ratings. Done deal.

[captainlate]

Momentum killers= refs. Heavily influenced by home crowd in game 6. Pathetic. The fix is in.

[Chris ChrusherComix]

I've often thought that fans of all the teams should make databases of bad calls and all apparent screw job games. Compile a database on a website - NBARefsSuck.com or any of the dozens of Facebook pages that have the same sentiment – see what teams get screwed the most and screwed the least, and provide said evidence for all the world to see and judge for themselves. Problem is, if we used video footage, Stern and the NBA copyright that, so they’d probably sue us for exposing them using their own video. How’s that for freedom of speech? We’d have to go with exhausting play-by-play descriptions. Quite a racket the NBA has, no?

[Joe Tango from San Diego]

Katy, you can call me out on it.. You're right. I am calling out the refs. I don't like to, but man alive, if I am not the only seeing it, then it must be happening. As Chris says, its a nice little racket they have going on, no?
I agree with everything Captain Late and Crusher Comix just commented.

So guys, what happened to Manny Pacquiao? My scorecard said Pacman-10 rounds, bradley 2 rounds, scorecard reads 118-110. So how did he lose?
I wonder...