Are we Flop City?
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 28, 2012 1:05 PM PST
Email
Print
This video here has gotten me to thinking, is there too much flopping by our team, namely Chris Paul and Blake Griffin? I have read dozens of comments from other NBA fans complaining that watching the Clippers is unbearable due to the high volume of flopping. Here is one example that sums up the collective thinking:
Most people have soured on the Clippers for very legitimate reasons, this video showing them. I, like many others, looked forward to the CP3-Blake pairing, but by now I really don't like watching them play. I won't deny the hype machine contributes to my annoyance, but the constant flopping, whining and shortcutting to "elite team" really bug me. Blake is too athletic to simply fall down for an easy flop and likely call when he could just as easily stand his ground and stuff the ball back into the offensive player's face. CP3 has quick hands, he can be a pickpocket or get in the passing lanes rather than look for minimal contact so he can dive onto the floor.
It's cheap, exploitative basketball that I can't root for. There are waaaay too many examples here for this not to be a trend, and I've watched too many Clippers games this year to see that this is how they play defense.
They are frustrated that a physical beast like Blake Griffin resorts to flopping. The media has certainly factored into this analysis since our games are receiving more and more exposure. My question to Clips Nation is, are we too biased to see this or are other fans finding ways to nitpick and root against the Clippers? Can we expect more and more of these bandwagon "haters" for the rest of the season? I'm certainly not used to this type attention and I'm asking if anyone has seen this type of backlash. A year ago Clipper games were must see TV by League Pass owners. Nowadays it has been, let's watch the Clippers fail miserably and complain about their style of basketball.
49 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
a youtube users with nothing but 3 videos of Clippers flopping?
eh… whatever.
Your capslock is stuck, please buy a new keyboard
"But can't the refs blow the whistle and stop play in certain situations?" Boltsfan21
Blake does flop a little
but that is only because the refs won’t give him the call otherwise. I think the whole clipper hating is just a reaction to the fact the people are afraid of the clippers now. I think the clipper hater are a small but vocal minority that is made up largely of spurned Laker fans. This video is just dumb, only one or two of the plays shown is anywhere close to flopping and I’m sure if you broke down every team every game you would find just as much evidence of flopping.
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
I think we can expect to continually see many versions of hatred
I think Blake does get assaulted in the post. I’m more shocked on how little he has actually blown a temper for the amount of shots he has taken. The difference with this season is that he is now a marked man. The spurned Laker fans, as you alluded to, would not be making the same suggestions about Chris Paul’s antics if he was donning the purple and gold.
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 28, 2012 1:38 PM PST up reply actions
This is just hate toward the Clippers, nit picking. If you haven't noticed flopping is rampant in the NBA.
The refs allow flopping and many teams and players take advantage of it. Blake learned that he had to flop sometimes to get calls. Have you watched the Lakers and Heat play? Did you watch the Finals last season, the heat practically flopped themselves out of a championship. The lakers have some of the biggest floppers of all history. There is a lot of Clipper and Blake Griffin hate his year. They will find anything just to say ugly things.
I really don’t care what the other fans or people say. Clippers when they had no potential, had no coverage besides local fans anyways. All this criticism, come on, fisher ginoboli
by Edmund81 on Jan 28, 2012 2:32 PM PST via mobile reply actions
The only way they can shut up all the critics is to just play hard every game. Everyone who said that Blake is too one dimensional are the reason why Blake worked on his 18-footer over the Summer. Where was all the criticism on Blake’s game when he was efficent from the field against Memphis and almost pulled off his first triple double of the season?
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 28, 2012 2:55 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
You know who are blowing this up?
The Lakers and their fans. Same as the hatred on youtube against Blake Griffin.
when you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore. I can guarantee you that -BG32
I am glad it is Lakers fans
I am sure they will not want to sign Blake anymore – NOT!
"Great Balls Of Fire, Reggie's Back!"
Not gonna lie, Blake and Chris do kinda flop a lot. I mean, a lot of players do it so it doesn’t really annoy me anymore. Then again, Derek Fisher is the King of Flops so I don’t want to hear any Lakers fans try to tell me the players on my team flop a lot. If flopping was an Olympic event, Derek Fisher would have more gold medals than Mark Spitz.
A lot of big men flop now a days
they are taught to do it in college because it is the only way they can get calls. CP3 definitely flops but it is almost expected for guards to this (although he is no where near as bad as say a JJ Barea or a Fisher). As for Blake while he does flop a little, he more than makes up for it by getting hammered on the offensive end and still not getting calls.
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
let's be clear
That video was ridiculous. I can take any 48 minute NBA game, and show just as many players from either team hitting the floor. The weird thing about that video is that there was not even one particularly bad flop. The whole thing starts with Blake taking a text book charge. It was all just silly.
Having said that, I don’t have to wonder about whether I personally have blinders on: I wrote about Paul’s flopping when he was in New Orleans. He does flop, and I’m not crazy about it, but even before he was a Clipper I recognized it as smart basketball from a supremely competitive individual. People can dislike it all they want, but it’s part of the game.
Blake does more flailing than he should — but again, he learned pretty early that it worked. The first couple months of his NBA career he would get mugged and he’d take it and there’d be no call. He learned the “head throw back” and presto, he got whistles.
Blame the refs for rewarding it.
But the comment “There are waaaay too many examples here for this not to be a trend” based on that video? Puh-leeze.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
"Flopping" or falling
lessens the force of what a player could receive from another player. It’s disgusting to see when players barely get hit and they fall but I don’t mind players falling when they do actually get hit.You don’t want a player to get hit directly and not move. That would surely break a rib.
when you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore. I can guarantee you that -BG32
Thank You Steve!
They make it seem as though Del Negro and Demopoulous take valuable time out of their practice to teach Flopping 101. There are so many more defensive tactics and techniques that the Clippers staff have to worry about than to encourage their players to learn how to flail themselves backwards. The Kobe Bryant special is kicking his arms and legs while screaming when he releases his shot, in hopes of tricking the officials. How many times do we hear Carlos Boozer yell out “AND ONE!!!” as he lofts the ball to the basket? My point being is that attracting any sort of attention, verbally or physically, from the officials to toot their whistle is going to be a part of the game. The league has made it a point to emphasize on cracking down on flopping and even punishing the perpetrator. As Steve mentioned during the Raptors game preview, the Xenophobic Clippers do not have any foreign born players. How would it be possible for this influence of the European style of play spread to the Clippers?
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 28, 2012 5:49 PM PST up reply actions
He learned the "head throw back" and presto, he got whistles.
That’s now referred to as the “Gallinari Special.”
by FlyByKnight on Jan 28, 2012 4:11 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
That's the Euro Special
all Euro players do that one especially Manu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAt2B2iiKiQ
when you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore. I can guarantee you that -BG32
Maybe they wouldn't have to resort to flopping...
if they actually got correct calls from the refs.
Clippers // Chargers // Rays // Boise State
"The Lakers do win games. But things can change." - Blake Griffin
SOUR GRAPES, SOUR GRAPES WE ARE IN FIRST PLACE!
Why doesn’t that blogger talk about how much Blake gets hammered and no
calls. The refs think he’s a Beast and don’t give him the calls just like the other
night in the final minutes of the laker game with Artest. The more we win guys
the more crappy hate remarks you going to see. Like i say just ride the wave
and lets keep on winning.
Me no likey flops
Mad Dog Griffen is a master flopper. Guess I have not watch enough Clippers games to notice CP flopping but reading this post he does. Refs need to wise up to all the NBA flopping. Yeah I’m talking about you, Vlade.
yeah agreed +100000
i think he should man up and just play guys straight up without the flop. mad dog is too good to be a flopper
Let's be honest, Blake shouldn't be going down easily with his size.
But he does. At the same time, that just proves that he is fouled more often on the offensive end. If they everybody complains that he is too strong to fall down so easily, how is he always having trouble going up with the ball on offense? I would say, 75% of his misses are caused by some sort of contact, and I think at least 50% of it should be called. So yes, he shouldn’t go down that easily, but that just supports the idea that he is fouled very often on offense. He isn’t just strong on defense, he is strong on both ends, so he needs to find away to get calls one way or another. His complaining on the other hand needs to change…
Ridiculous I say! The hate just comes with the success.
I even heard John Ireland & Steve Mason on the radio yesterday say “most players (in the NBA) find Blake Griffin irritating…”
I was like “Yo WTF!!?” Face it, Laker fans can’t accept the fact that Clippers are now more relevant.
No, it's the Clip Show!
Last Year
Wasn’t this the same fanbase that would say things like, “I can’t wait until Blake Griffin walks away in free agency and signs with the Lakers.”
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 28, 2012 7:55 PM PST up reply actions
+1
"Excellence...is not an act, but a habit" Aristotle
by Cliptomaniac on Jan 28, 2012 9:52 PM PST up reply actions
Two things
Flopping is a part of the game whether we like it or not and “mad dog” nickname really sucks!
"Success only comes before work inside of a dictionary!"
by Clipperoo on Jan 28, 2012 10:54 PM PST via mobile reply actions
Flopping exists because it produces results
players will always do whatever is necessary for them to have the best chance at winning. If the refs didn’t call flops players would immediately stop. Same thing happened with shoving and hand checking in the 90’s. In the 90’s everyone hand checked but then they started calling it a foul so they stopped. Also can be seen with the frequency of fighting in the earlier days of the league, before fights were regular but once players started getting ejected for altercations the frequency of fights dropped immensely (of course there were other factors in this as well including the AAU friend culture but the ejections most definitely played a prominent if not the most important cause of the decrease of fights).
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
It will continue to exist until the league makes a statement against it. There have been talks about penalizing the floppers but nothing has been done yet. Until we see a rule change, it will continue to be a part of the game.
by vaughtfromhisspot on Jan 29, 2012 10:30 PM PST up reply actions
Also, it would be hard to enforce that rule.
The point of a flop is to make little contact and emphasize it into something huge. Most of the time, the refs vision isn’t clear enough to claim it to be a flop or a real foul. They never reverse fouls and if they did (using what I would believe to be a video review) that would mean they would have to review NUMEROUS calls throughout the game. A disruption like that would hurt the game greatly.
It would also hurt star players
who have greatly incorporated it into their games. Remember when Shaq tried it a few times.
but the greats don't flop
you don’t see jordan, lebron, shaq (at least when he was young), barkley, karl Malone flop
maybe just me but i think Blake “Raging Bull” Griffin is kinda like those players so I hate watching someone so good flop
Don't get ahead of yourself.
Griffin is too young to be compared to Jordan, LeBron, Shaq, (I’m not considering Barkley to be in their league), or Karl Malone. And the fact is, people who flop still get results. Just like at Manu.
lebron flops and travels a lot.
back in the 90’s flopping was rare, i think the Europeans introduced it to the NBA.
it also has to do with the era when the players play.
http://www.clipperscurse.com/
by ClippersCurse on Jan 29, 2012 11:10 AM PST up reply actions
Shaq actually did it a few times.
and got the call when he was knocked down by a friggin PG. Lebron has done it as well. Flopping wasnt prominent in the 90s his why none of the guys you mention didn’t do it. But Kobe, Durant, Melo, Wade, James, Rose, and all the good to great players in the most recent error flop. and as tenkaistar stated. It was the Euro players who introduced it. American’s got schooled in it during the olympics.
no we are not
Ralph, "Last year so often with Blake Griffin you would see these things coming, with Paul, he's so crafty, all of a sudden boom there it is."
Saying that Blake for Dwight is a no brainer is assuming that we live in a fantasy type world
sure on paper the deal seems fine. But there are other factors than stats that have to be thought about int he real world. For instance as many as said if we trade Griffin we show the league that we have no loyalty to anyone as Griffin is the only reason that we were able to get Paul and are now good enough where people like Dwight might be interested in coming here. Also we don’t even know if Dwight would be willing to stay. And even if he did we could only sign him to a 4 year extension ( which includes the year he is currently playing so really we would have him for 3 full seasons) while we could have Griffin for a full 5 more seasons. Also while we do know that Dwight is great and is the best center in the game he is essentially at his prime right now and will not get better, while Blake is still only two seasons into his career and his ceiling is sky high and unknown and may very well be better than Dwight in a couple of seasons (Dwight could also get worse in a couple of seasons who knows). So really you are saying that gutting out team should be a no brainer which is idiocy in the real world.
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
oops sorry guys wrong post lol
"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown
by bestclipfan on Jan 29, 2012 11:59 AM PST up reply actions
This is just backlash hate IMO
Blake exaggerates contact but doesn’t outright flop.
CP3, I will admit, flops quite a bit but no more than a lot of superstars…
actual i have to argue that Bosh did not flop
….he is just that soft. the force of wind generated by boozer’s elbow knocked him over
Ralph, "Last year so often with Blake Griffin you would see these things coming, with Paul, he's so crafty, all of a sudden boom there it is."
What type of question is this???
We all watch basketball. And loads of it. I don’t see the Spurs getting hammered because Manu Ginobili attempts to draw a foul on every single possession. Or the Celtics getting bashed because Rondo is on the hardwood again after he fell on a layup by his lonesome. I don’t hear complaints when Joakim Noah takes a charge. And nobody says anything about the Lakers when Kobe constantly throws his arms in the air after a shot attempt screaming, “Ref! On the arm, man! On the arm, ref!” Wanna know why?! Because thats what good teams do. Good teams flop when they need to flop, play tough when they need to play tough. It’s about outscoring our opponent and winning games. If fans can’t handle that reality than they should’nt watch us play.
Jeremy Stearn- Keith Closs for Prez!
Clippers are getting so much attention with flopping because
A) ESPN article about that bum Matt Barnes
and
B) Hipsters got tired of Lob City, and Flop City rhymes so well with the former.
when you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore. I can guarantee you that -BG32
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Clips Nation
Related FanShots on Clips Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- The Indiana Pacers? Gone till November
- Shaquille O’Neal is in a Chinese beer commercial, too (VIDEO)
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- C-a-C: This is probably as close to LeBron James working with John Waters as we’ll ever get
- Dwyane Wade’s hot pink pants: The kind of thing you can get away with when you drop 41
