Thomas Robinson Flops, Says He Played Like 'Richard Sherman' on DeMarcus Cousins
“You can’t lose if you don’t play.”
This is the new motto for teams attempting to contain the omnipotent thunder-baby that is DeMarcus Cousins, whose dominant play of late has led to a rash of game-altering flops by defenders attempting to slow the Sacramento Kings center’s roll.
As Portland Trail Blazers forward Thomas Robinson illustrated during Monday night’s matchup against the Kings, the key to playing against Boogie is not playing against Boogie—it’s falling down and hoping for the call.
After losing LaMarcus Aldridge to a left hand injury early in the second quarter, Robinson found himself charged with the unenviable task of guarding Cousins. Ceding 33 pounds and an inch in height to his opponent, the smaller Robinson pulled out every last trick in his bag in the hopes of stopping Cousins from building a condo in the paint.
This, of course, led to gamesmanship on Robinson’s part, the most underhanded instance coming in the form of an egregious fourth-quarter flop.
Faced with one-on-one isolation against Cousins, Robinson opted for the Fergie mop boy defense, bumping into Cousins and initiating a full body roll before falling backward onto the hardwood.
Sacramento Kings writer Tony Xypteras uploaded a Vine of Robinson's theatrics from another angle. The flop resulted in an offensive foul on Cousins, his fifth of the game. This is how you defend Boogie without defending Boogie:
On a separate but related note, Robinson would annihilate the limbo line at your niece’s birthday party:
Cousins would go on to pick up his sixth foul (also initiated by Robinson) and leave with about a minute and a half remaining in the contest. Despite his early departure, Boogie still managed to put up 22 points and 19 rebounds on the night.
Nonetheless, Portland managed to pull out a 98-94 win over Sacramento, with Robinson scoring all five of his points in the fourth quarter. After the game, the reserve forward’s teammates praised him for scrapping it out against Cousins down the stretch.
“That’s why I think T-Rob was so huge for us,” Damian Lillard told The Oregonian’s Mike Richman. “[Cousins]’s a big guy, a physical guy and [Robinson] fought him and made things hard for him. When he fouled out it was him trying to fight through T-Rob fighting with him.”
Richman tweeted that Robinson asked members of the media after the game if they could tell he flopped. He received an affirmative:
According to The Columbian’s Erik Gundersen, Robinson also credited Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman after the game, saying he modeled his post play against Cousins after Sherman’s hands-y, whatever-it-takes defensive style on the football field:
Welp, it might be illegal and borderline reprehensible, but no one’s saying Robinson’s tactics were ineffective.
Rather, this flop-a-Boogie approach seems to be catching on as a go-to method for teams looking to neutralize the Kings center.
Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler used a similar strategy to foul Cousins out of last Tuesday’s game against Sacramento. With the contest tied 99-99 in the final 30 seconds of play, Chandler denied an entry pass to Cousins by grabbing his opponent’s arm and taking a big whiff of an invisible smelling salt:
Dallas went on to win 108-104, and it’s inarguable that Chandler’s flop—like Robinson’s—changed the pallor of things if not directly won the game for his team.
So there you have it, gang: a clear blueprint for derailing the Boogie train. You’ll have to shell out some fine money and check your pride at the arena doors, but hey, it’s all in the game, right?
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