Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins: 'Flopping isn't a part of the game'

The Grizzlies' Tony Allen was fined $5,000 for pretending to suffer a head injury in the final minute of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Four days after his team forced overtime thanks to a late-game flop, Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said that flopping "shouldn't be part of the game."

Hollins' comments came in response to reporters' questions about Tony Allen's fourth-quarter flop, in which he grabbed his head and pretended to writhe in pain after being fouled by the Spurs' Manu Ginobili.

Allen's flop in an 85-81 game with 26 seconds left drew a flagrant foul, allowing the Grizzlies to tie the game. He was fined $5,000 the next day.

The league's new rules for the postseason stipulate that a player be fined $5,000 for a first offense, $$10,000 for the second, $15,000 for the third, $30,000 for the fourth, and be subject to league discipline for any subsequent flops.

From ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz:

"Flopping isn't a part of the game and it shouldn't be a part of the game," Hollins said. "That's why we have rules in place. There are probably a few more that could be called on a lot of people still in it." "I don't think what happened had anything to do with the referee calling a flagrant foul because he grabbed him out of the air," Hollins said. "Whether he hit his head or didn't hit his head, he grabbed him out of the air, and I don't think that had a bearing, especially when they went and reviewed it, they still called it a flagrant."

...

Hollins made clear that the foul committed by San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who grabbed Allen's arm while the Grizzlies guard was airborne, was a flagrant foul irrespective of Allen's subsequent reaction.