[Highlight] Darius Garland receives a technical foul for flopping (with replays). Suns and Cavaliers commentaries
Why are we going after the low level guys? Need to hit the capos and the bosses or this criminal flopping syndicate will never go down.
great now i want to watch the sopranos again.
He was flopping, Darius Garland?
Flopping, not fouling?
You get a pash for dat if youre a shupershtar
floppingtitis
Nobody was flopping! And I don’t want to hear that whistle again!
Are you listening to me!?
Jesus Christ. is dat fuckin’ necessary
It’s not a nursing home! It’s the Intuit Dome!
He never had the makings of a varsity flopper.
To me the flop is beautiful, Rubenesque.
Flopping is the lowest form of basketball.
This is a good one
Don’t you usually start with the low-level guys to get them to flip on the higher-level guys?
You want them to flop and they flip instead
Depends.
In the military you usually know the high level targets that keep the infrastructure running, if you know who they are and where they are. Otherwise you drown them out by eliminating the lower levels.
In the mafia/criminal world it is literally impossible to know what or when without an actual double agent and low levels know literally nothing about personalities engaged in high level operations.
That being said, no one said you cannot do both. It is all about breaking the habit anyway. If you cut the lower guys off from doing this stuff, the higher level will take notice. But it has to be reinforced enough to become something recognizable.
Once a year is NOT a thing. Flopping should be called way more often.
I think they usually have a pretty good idea of who’s running things in the decent sized criminal outfits. Those guys stay insulated from the actual crimes though. They keep 4 or 5 guys between them and the streets so they never get caught with their hands dirty. That’s why they have to go at them for tax evasion and stuff like that.
Would love to see Luka and Shai called for flops.
This was like the 4th time in this quarter alone that Booker forced a switch, then bodied and/or fully extended the arm on Garland. No calls until this one.
Garland had been in their ear on all of them, so he just ran away on the contact instead of standing his ground.
They called the foul this time, but T’d up Garland for showing them up, basically. This wasn’t even as egregious as the other shoves were though.
So they can pay lip service and factually say they went after flopping. Even though it’s only for 1 play, it is a fact.
Same thing with PEDs. Every couple of years they’ll pop a role player, when you’ve got guys like Giannis looking like aliens.
Buy Busts Lieutenant
I’d especially like to see the flops called on the offensive players as well.
Yeah, I hate all kinds of flopping. But it’s just a little on the nose for the modern NBA - which lets offenses get away with murder - to only crack down on defensive flopping.
Especially since in this particular clip he’s clearly embellishing to try to sell the offensive push off. I doubt he’s flopping like that if you just call the offensive push off correctly.
Nah that’s hilarious lmao
Looked like a human pinball
Sonic when he loses his rings
Like Willem Dafoe from Platoon, but without the bullets.
Five minutes each for play fighting!
Why
Unnatural flying motion
This woulda got the shooting stars meme treatment back in the day for sure
lmao. I thought they stopped calling these flopping techs.
They call one per year and realized they hadn’t yet in 2025 so had to get it in
That’s clutch.
LOL
Yeah they called one on Khris Middleton 2 years ago and I have seen maybe six of them since
Pistons have had at least two called on them that I know of this season. One on Robinson and it might have been a light embellishment but nothing like this or other bigger stars flops. The other on I think Ivey, missed the game but I’ve never once seen him flop and I’m suspicious about it. It’s been called a couple times this season in other teams.
Neither DRob nor Garland can defend for shit so maybe these are the guys they’re targeting lol
Ivey got bodied on a screen, both of his feet were taken off the ground, and then the refs called him for flopping when he fell over. It was not a good call.
One week per season.
Getting a flopping tech is like getting a razzie. You just gotta act better
The league makes their own rules and how often they enforce them. It’s a joke.
You gotta call one on this tho lol
It’s the refs way of saying “happy new year”
“And don’t you forget, we call for flopping”
I think they’ve assessed three after the fact: two of which are Russ Westbrook lol
Why don’t they call this more often around the league?People flop all the time.
Few are as egregious as that one lol, but 1000% more need to be called.
Egregious? He got pushed and had momentum. He threw his hands up to sell, but didn’t even fall. If that’s an egregious flop then we’ll need a few T’s a game for some certain fellas
The amount of offensive advantage you can get from push-offs or initiating contact with your shoulder is an absolute joke in this league. It’s the type of dumb BS that got motherfkers thinking this is the most talented era ever. There’s just nothing the defenders can do.
Yeah this really isn’t that bad. I can think of a few players, my team included when available, who flop more with less of an excuse on almost a nightly basis. Hilarious to see a Thunder fan claim this is egregious.
We’re at the point where if you don’t do it, you’re giving up an advantage
If I were to guess this is more about showing up the ref by being dramatic than it is an actual flop. He’s definitely being overly dramatic here and the thin skinned ref didn’t like it. There’s a chance there’s some missing context too, like maybe he complained about the push off and he was exaggerating to make a point.
All speculation, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this is less about flopping and more about an annoyed ref.
Buddy, shai has had way worse flops than this. And before you play the victim card, jokic also has had way worse flops. What are we even saying rn?
when has shai jumped like handsome squidward?
Just about every game he plays
Your best player as well as my team’s former best player have a flop worse than this at least once a week.
Woof buddy you’ve missed some bad ones this season. Tbf so did the refs.
lol
Because then the Lakers would have no offense
And Reaves’ bitch ass would be in the GLeague where his talentless ass belongs
Definitely a flop but my goodness are the push offs getting crazy this year. Yes I know the top guys been pushing off for a long time but it’s been especially noticeable this year with everyone.
This is how flopping in soccer begun. Referees don’t call more and more fouls (in NBA specifically offensive fouls and illegal screens) so the only way they can ever get the call is if they flop. It was an obvious push-off from Booker but DG knows the only chance of getting that call is to embellish it.
The key is to fall down. NBA refs don’t call shit if you are still standing up after the contact. Just watch Smart skidding around the floor like a hockey puck every game.
Smart and Dort must lead the league in fall downs/minute
On offense and defense, it’s ridiculous and literally every game lol
And to prove the point of this comment chain, Dort draws at least one illegal screen offensive foul on the other team every game.
It’s like that especially on illegal screens. Literally never called if the defender doesn’t either fall down or act as if they got hit in the face.
The problem is he didn’t embellish it, he leaped into the air like he was in the middle of a gymnastics routine complete with arms stretched to the air.
Sometimes it’s just comical, like when Marcus Smart jumped like a dolphin.
Yeah, I don’t even think this is a flop. He absolutely got pushed off. He just added little dramatic flair.
If there was no actual push off, then it would be a flop. But there clearly was
Bruh I’m so tired of seeing defenders get fforearm shivered like they’re in the fucking line in an NFL game. The fuck is a defender supposed to do? The handler just gets to create 5 feet of space for an open jumper? I imagine if curry was allowed to do that he’d average 45 a game for a SEASON.
Curry had his moving screens, and that created a dynasty.
He also got grabbed and held off ball every play to offset that to some extent.
I dunno I feel like a flopping tech should be more reserved for the offensive player just let the defensive player fall down or take themselves out of the play. Garland sold the push off but didn’t even fall or anything
Yup. They almost always only call it against the defenders. It makes no sense. Garland’s punishment for flopping was just being out of position. That’s the natural consequence of flopping on defense and not getting the call. There doesn’t really need to be an extra call.
It’s the offensive flopping that never has and punishment or consequence.
Exactly, there are built in consequences to flopping on defense and getting no whistle on offense you flop and can more force the refs to make a call
Yeah, I applaud that they called it, but it’s weird that this in particular is the time it finally got called.
Thank god. We need more of these
He oversold the foul, but it was an offensive foul.
This is the right answer. Yeah, he definitely oversold it, but he didn’t fake the momentum that was created from the push off.
Call me when they make this call on LeBron or Jokic tho
I mean really I get them not calling this an offensive foul but to call it a technical foul flop when there’s clearly some contact is pretty funny - I thought this was reserved for when a guy pretends there was contact when there wasn’t any
It’s reserved for whenever the fuck they feel they want to give a tech,
In hockey they call it embellishment, which even in the name seems to imply “yeah, maybe that’s a penalty, but be a man, have some dignity”
That’s a textbook offensive foul. He oversells it because that’s the only way you can possibly get that call. Call the actual fucking foul first
Booker had blatantly pushed off on Garland multiple times already. Garland finally decided to sell the contact and he got a tech for it.
Let’s not act like it wasn’t a fairly called game for the most part. Mitchell got away with his fair share.
There’s a non-zero chance that this was called a flop because the ref was thinking “you’re up by 20 and the game is almost over, chill.” Fair or not, that certainly seems to be the way refs think a lot of the time.
He should get a tech for it, every player should
But you’re such a homer that you can’t see how dumb flopping is and don’t even realize the dozen push offs Mitchell is doing too
No he doesn’t? His push offs are legal and in this play he doesn’t even touch him?!
It was always, but it isn’t this year.
But you’re right people flop because it’s not called otherwise. Also if you’re off balance and pushed and go with it is it a flop at all?
I get that it can be frustrating for players when they don’t get calls without flopping. But flopping absolutely cannot be the answer, because with everyone flopping all the time it’s much harder for the refs to tell where the actual fouls are. So if a guy does something like this, I’d much rather see a flopping tech and no call every single time to try to eliminate all flopping. They just need to call these more consistently.
You should never be rewarded with a call for shit like this, get out of here
Defensive flopping is rarely the issue. The punishment for defensive flopping is just not calling the foul. When you flop defensively, you are almost always out of position.
Let me know when they start to call offensive flops then I’ll be more receptive to this argument in a league that constantly gives offensive players every single advantage
While I agree they need to call offensive flopping as well, I still stand by what I said. Defensive flopping should be punished the same IMO. There needs to be something to discourage it more than just not getting a call. And technical fouls are perfect for that, they come with a fine (tiny for nba salaries but still) and if you get enough of them eventually you start getting suspended. This is a great system IF they start calling them consistently
I’d be fine with the call being offensive foul on Booker, flopping technical on Garland.
If you’re going to call the flop when it’s in response to overselling a legitimate offensive foul, at least call the offensive foul too.
Textbook doesn’t mean shit anymore, the majority of the whistles are up to refs discretion, there’s so much leeway. That’s why the games feel rigged because there’s no transparency.
Exactly. That’s the real problem. Guys feel like they have to exaggerate contact on stuff like this. Nothing makes sense officiating wise.
It’s a push off but the league doesn’t call those anymore, and DG’s “flop” is just a really bad sell.
Yeah, he probably got frustrated because they let these push-offs go with no call.
So he felt like he had to sell it.
Call both push-offs and flops. And carries. And moving screens…
Call the game by the rules.
The new rules are intentional dude. It’s not a mistake. They made so you can run right into a defender’s chest with your elbow out and it’s a defensive foul. It’s tragic.
Of all the flops to call they pick this one? lol. This league is a joke.
Oh ok so they can call techs for Garland but not for SGA/Luka/Austin & the rest of the OKC team
It’s a blatant flop lol
Definitely a flop but not even in the top 10 most egregious I’ve seen this season lol
I’ve probably seen 10 more egregious flops this week alone, but fuck it, T ‘em up.
Yeah, but it’s crazy to suddenly call that one when people get away with flops just as bad every night
Its definitely a flop but its also definitely an offensive foul.
Booker pushed off TWICE on this play alone. I don’t blame him for trying to oversell it, probably frustration from it not being called all night.
It’s a flop. It’s also an offensive foul on booker lol.
This level of flopping happens like 10-20x across every NBA game
I’ve seen worse
Right at the end of 2025… Maybe they needed to hit a quota for the calendar year
Edit: I’m 100% on board for the league to start calling flopping techs. Hopefully this is the start of something beautiful
Keep this same energy across the league! (Except, defenders still need to be able to defend against this current iteration of NBA offense)
This is the right call, but also this needs called in the league like 50 times more often
Every quarter fifty times more often lol
LMAOOOOOOOO
They called him for palming this game too. Refs must hate his guts.
There’s no way one of the only flopping techs is called on a defender selling the push-off without even falling. And people in this thread are praising this. NBA, fans, clown show all around. Pls bring back defense for the love of god. There’s actually a decent amount of talented defenders but they have no chance in this league
Shades of Chris Paul vs Boogie 😂
That shit is pure comedy lol
I’m glad it didn’t happen at a pivotal point in the game but that shit in slo mo was crackin me up
Average Lou Dort defensive possession
how many have they called on Dort?
if u gonna flop at least take a physics class first
Good get it out of the game. I hate it. On both ends.
The worst shit is this and when people shoot and kick their feet out horizontally and get the call. Worst shit in the sport
Damn, ive seen LeBRON do far worse and nothing happens…smh
ron holland should have gotten one from last night. wish more people would be called out on this bs.
You think she calls that if the Cavs aren’t 19 ahead?
Ridiculous call, should’ve just been a play on situation
Can only hope SGA is next.
So odd when they choose to call these, isnt it?
About time, but start calling that shit on everyone. Its absolutely ruining the game.
However on the other end, push offs really need to be reigned in to.
I love that the actual technical term is “flopping”
Should be a push-off foul and a flopping foul. Usually they don’t call either, so it’s a step up I guess.
They still call these? News to me, lol
Can they do this to the actual floppers when the game actually matters? 💀💀
It’s obviously a flop but good lord what a push off by booker. How can you allow such a blatant offensive foul but then call a tech on the guy trying to sell it for the call. Pretty obvious that he feels it’s necessary cause they’re clearly not calling it.
Ohh so we’re calling this again?!?
Then call the push off. NBA ball has been ruined by refs
Hilarious. Funnier that they won’t call them on any offensive baiting player ever.
I’m fine with this but they need to call this way more often if this is supposed to be one of the few flops egregious enough to warrant a tech. Garland stays on his feet and doesn’t disrupt the play in any way, just gets out of position and lets Booker score. It’s much worse in my opinion when people fall down into others’ paths in an attempt to get free throws.
They hate him no way
So basically you only get a flopping tech if you aren’t a good enough actor.
Now make the call consistently. And not in a 30 point game where its irrelevant
I get that this is a flop but I’m starting to notice that they’re just calling flopping fouls on defenders and never offensive players. This league is a joke.
NBA officials actual terrorists
Sga does similiar but it’s all in his face.
Now call it on the OKC players, and also while we’re at it, start calling the daily wwe fouls on curry
The refs need to call them MORE. This was pure acting by Darius.
Refs could call this 20 times a game easy.
We need more refs with balls as big as her. That was an awesome call.
Hate that call.
My guy literally did the handsome squidward😂
Now all they have to do is call these techs on offensive players who snap their necks whenever they’re touched if it’s not a rule they need to make one
More please
That’s 100% a flop. PLEASE call it every time and on every player. The NBA is becoming unbearable to watch because of it.
He was definitely hilariously dramatic. But to be fair, he was running in that direction and the momentum carried him.
I was listening to the game on the radio so I didn’t see the play until now. Dude pranced like a ballerina.
They need to call more of these..especially on OKC.
They can’t call this an offensive foul because Shai, Luka, Brunson, Tatum, Booker would foul out in the first quarter.
That’s the reason why defenders are trying to flop to sell these push-off because they can’t do anything.
Calling a defensive flop 😂 That’s not what I had in mind, but they’ve got the spirit atleast
Usually guys full extend that push off that was clean af by book
Nobody in this era would survive the 90s..
honestly i dont even consider this one a flop anymore, it sucks to see people exagerate contact but atleast he clearly got shoved
i think the battle against the clear contant that get embellished is already lost cause the refs just wont call it otherwise, gotta move the fight to the guys that jump like they got hit by a cannonball to the chest or fall to the ground like their legs exploded
Who was the player who recently came out and said one of the way to be great is to learn to flop… This is what the sport has because me of itself. Even the couch couldn’t believe that they would call a flop baha
This how Uncle Phil used to throw Jazz out the crib
Absolutely love that call. Nature is healing in the NBA
How about the Cavs announcer trying to argue about the flop call lol. I have league pass but I’m in Ohio so the Cavs are the only team I can’t watch
I guess when you leave the county you kind of force their hand to call it.
This the kind of refereeing the league needs
That’s tame af
I wish they’d call the real ones
So that means they’re back to calling this regularly right?
Pathetic
Almost didn’t even seem like he was trying to get a foul call. He was just bailing on the play. Just let him bail.
Good
Good. They should call this consistently
I think this is great.
The problem is obvious though, they never actually call this consistently. It would be so easy to clean up flopping if this was actually a threat to happen more than once on a Wednesday in December
Wait… we’re calling flops?
The problem with this call isn’t that it was made. It that it isn’t made enough.
“BOOM!”
Can someone edit this so he launches off into the crowd… then maybe thru space?
This could be taught in a political science course
Cool. Please let’s make this call consistent. Knowing the NBA, this one call met the quota for the season, and it won’t be called again this year.
He deserved that tech and to be shunned from polite society.
OMG that’s hilarious.
What?!? How is a flop a foul!?! That should not be a foul. Wow.
More. Keep calling more.
MORE CALLS LIKE THIS.
Hahaha GOOD
GOOD CALL REF (OVERTLY AGGRESSIVE CLAPPING)
She’s my goat for this
My god Garland 🤣
Great vid, to hear both sides 😂😂
She deserves a raise