Marcus Smart commits the biggest flop of the year (Video)

Marcus Smart committed the NBA’s biggest flop this season.

The 2020 Academy Awards were already in February, but Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart already has the strongest NBA submission for 2021.

Smart is a gritty defensive player, vastly improved 3-point shooter and ultra-important glue guy on both ends of the floor for Brad Stevens’ Celtics. But he’s also one of the game’s most notorious floppers, and on Tuesday in Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors, he submitted his finest performance yet.

After Kyle Lowry came up with a steal for the Raptors and flipped it ahead to Fred VanVleet, Smart closed in on Pascal Siakam, who was slowly trailing the play to wall off VanVleet from the pursuing Boston defenders. Smart stuck his arm out, initiated contact with Siakam, and went careening to the ground in an attempt to draw the offensive foul.

https://twitter.com/Dubs408/status/1300937732814848000

Marcus Smart just gave us the flop of the year

The ruse worked initially, earning Siakam the foul call and canceling out VanVleet’s bucket.

Fortunately, justice was restored when Raptors head coach Nick Nurse challenged the call. It was thankfully overturned, earning Smart his third foul, counting VanVleet’s bucket and, what’s more, rewarding Siakam with an extra free throw as an and-1 continuation of VanVleet’s basket.

Originally, Smart’s flop would have kept the score at 75-66. Instead, with VanVleet’s layup counting and Siakam’s free throw, Toronto extended its lead to 78-66.

It was fairly obvious in real time that Smart initiated the contact and bounced off Siakam in a patently absurd way, but apparently the officials needed a second look to realize what had occurred. Smart can be sneaky in that way, but at least in this instance, his comical attempt at stopping a fast-break layup was not rewarded with an offensive foul.

Now hopefully he gets hit with a fine to discourage him from continuing this kind of tomfoolery in the future.