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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;***&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By Rob Mahoney&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Few plays in basketball are as chuckle-worthy as the wholly unwarranted offensive flop -- that desperate, arm-flailing plea for a call made by a player who blatantly dramatizes contact. It's almost a shame that the league's most entertaining thespians have been targeted for such acts by the new anti-flopping rule. Good though it may be for the arbiters of the game to discourage such a ridiculous enterprise, there's clear entertainment value in seeing pro-level athletes attempt to recreate the physics of a collision or entanglement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some are rather convincing in that effort. Others wind up overacting so much that they risk hurting themselves or others -- just as Phoenix's Sebastian Telfair did when he smacked New York guard Pablo Prigioni in the face while looking to create a foul call out of thin air. The officials weren't having any of it, and one can't help but wonder if we're witnessing a dying art. The NBA's no-nonsense fines have seemingly deterred flopping (particularly on the offensive end) already this young season, and if that trend persists, might this season mark the beginning of the end for these cherished performances?\nH/T: Zach Harper; PBT.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/2012/12/03/pablo-prigioni-sebastian-telfair-flop>