Awards season just wrapped up with the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but there’s still one honor left that needs to be handed out.
The “floppiest play” in NBA history.
And it just so happens that it came during Sunday’s game between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe Marcus Smart and Dennis Schroder were angling for a last-minute invite to the Oscars.
The play in question happened late in the third quarter with the Celtics leading 82-80.
Being guarded by Schroder and after running him around a high-screen set by Enes Kanter, Smart starting driving into the lane. Schroder tried to slide underneath to draw an offensive foul, flying backward when Smart’s forearm and elbow connected with his chest.
Smart then built upon Schroder’s flop by running into Hamidou Diallo’s outstretched arm, going airborne as if Hami had just intentionally clotheslined him.
In the clip, a smattering of boos can be heard inside Chesapeake Energy Arena as Thunder rookie, Lu Dort, had been called for a similar play earlier in the game.
As for the play itself, it resulted in Schroder’s second foul. Smart would hit both ensuing free-throws.
Boston would go on to win the game 112-111 thanks to a Marcus Smart strip of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 5.8 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
But when it comes to the flop, NESN may have described it best, calling it “bad/funny/eye-roll-inducing”.
