Miami’s LeBron James was among three players who were each fined $5,000 by the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Thursday for violating the league’s anti-flopping policy during the Eastern Conference finals.
James, the NBA’s reigning most valuable player, was fined along with David West and Lance Stephenson of the Indiana Pacers for exaggerating contact during Tuesday’s Game Four of the best-of-seven series, which is tied at two games apiece.
With the intense series set to resume on Thursday in Miami, the league decided to crack down on the theatrics displayed in Game Four, where the players involved tried to trick referees into calling fouls off limited contact.
James and West were cited for flopping on the same play during Indiana’s 99-92 home victory.
Reported by Reuters
The Pacers’ 99-92 victory Tuesday was filled with such plays and marked by a combined 55 personal fouls. One of those fouls, committed by West against Dwyane Wade with 5:57 left in the fourth quarter of Game 4, was upgraded by the NBA to a flagrant-1.
Steve Kerr, working the game as an analyst for TNT, said flopping has ”been apparent throughout the series but I think it got worse” during Game 4. The league made the announcements of the flopping calls and flagrant upgrade a few hours before Game 5.
James was voted to the NBA’s All-Defensive first team, but Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau accused him of flopping after a play during the Heat’s second-round series victory over the Bulls. The play with West came not long after James said flopping was ”not even a bad thing, you’re just trying to get the advantage.”
Reported by the Associated Press
