Earlier this week, the NBA issued an official reprimand to Philadelphia 76er big man Joel Embiid for “flopping”—exaggerating the effect of contact with an opponent so as to influence the referee’s call. The decision took a couple of days.
Retribution was swifter back in the olden days – take the evening of Wednesday, February 26, 1976, for example. Payback took about 12 seconds.
That’s about how long it took a certain player to stare down the official who’d just called such a phantom foul; catch up to the dude that flopped and literally tackle him onto the scorer’s table; and then finally turn back to the ref and holler, “Now, that’s a foul!