NBA

LeBron James Angers Jeff Van Gundy With Another Egregious Flop

You might remember that LeBron James perpetrated a rather ridiculous (though successful) flop against the Bulls during the Eastern Conference Finals. Apparently, that success inspired him to keep going, because last night, he sold a call just as effectively after being “pushed” by the Mavericks’ Brendan Haywood. And it was about the only effective thing LeBron did all night! HEY-OOOOOOOOOOO! Seriously, here’s the play.

We can see why Jeff Van Gundy’s upset here: 1) as a coach, he’s sympathizing with the coach’s viewpoint (correct, in this case); 2) lashing out because he’s sad to lose Mark Jackson from the broadcast team; 3) yeah, that was a pretty bad flop. We don’t think it’s quite as bad as the Bulls one – it’s at least conceivable that a Haywood push could have that effect on LeBron, which wasn’t the case with Derrick Rose.

But a flop’s a flop, and LeBron, already an easy target for ridicule after his awful game last night, is an even easier one thanks to this play. Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones connects this flop with the Mavericks’ DeShawn Stevenson’s claim that the Heat are “great actors” who “sell it.” Stevenson’s not wrong.