Luka Doncic Flop Against Jazz Goes Viral
Mar 8, 2022, 1:30 PM
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert reacts to a Luka Doncic Flop (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Flopping is a part of the NBA game, but sometimes, once in a blue moon, there’s a flop so egregious, as was the case last night as the Utah Jazz faced Luka Doncic, that the bad acting job goes viral.
In an attempt to get Jazz star Rudy Gobert ejected for his second technical foul, Doncic took such an exaggerated flop that you thought he accidentally walked behind the engine of a 747 preparing for take-off.
With 30 seconds left in the third quarter of the Jazz loss to Dallas, Doncic threw an alley-oop pass to Dwight Powell, but in the aftermath of the play, the Mavericks star dove to the ground like he was jumping on a live grenade to save the lives of his teammates.
Luka Doncic was PISSED at Rudy Gobert after this play 😡
Foul on Rudy or Flop by Luka? 🤔pic.twitter.com/VrsMqjvUFH
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 8, 2022
Officials reviewed the play to see if it met the criteria of a hostile act but quickly cleared Gobert of any wrongdoing.
After the game, Gobert discussed the Doncic flop.
“He whispered something in my ear and he tried to bait me to get mad, but I knew what he was trying to do,” Gobert said. “So just tried to run back on offense, he was there in my way and kind of tripped.”
Doncic himself admitted to the flop after the game.
”I thought it was worse,” the Mavericks guard said. “Then when I saw it, it was nothing. We were all laughing at the bench.”
Doncic and Gobert have had a bit of a back and forward on the court in recent weeks. The two teams met in their first game back from the All-Star break with the Jazz beating Dallas 114-109.
Late in the game, Gobert repeatedly found himself matched up on Doncic and helped shut the Mavericks star down. Doncic scored 23 points to lead Dallas but shot just 8-24 from the floor.
Again, Gobert is the Jazz best perimeter defender. https://t.co/H1jGmX4UxX
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) February 26, 2022
Doncic came out with a vengeance in Monday’s meeting scoring 16 points in the first quarter against the Jazz looking to change the narrative about the matchup with Gobert.
The video of the Doncic third quarter flop went viral last night with several national outlets picking it up.
Doncic’s antics drew the ire of Jazz fans after he inadvertently punched All-Star Donovan Mitchell in the face late in the fourth quarter, a play that wasn’t reviewed by officials.
WoW 🤬
seeing this in slo-mo & this camera angle .. this play was WAY worse then the “Gobert foul on Luka”#JazzNation #UtahJazz #TakeNote#GoJazz #NBAhttps://t.co/FMGXPfIj7u pic.twitter.com/qtAQ4bqxaI— JazzNation (@JazzNationNews) March 8, 2022
With the win, Dallas pulled to within a half-game of the Jazz for the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Jazz will get a chance to avenge Monday’s loss later this month when they travel to face Doncic and Dallas again on March 27.
