Must-see sports moments of the week: Referee flops and sends player off for it

There were plenty of eye-catching sporting moments from the past week, including a referee who dived and a basketballer blocking the same shot twice. Yahoo Singapore picks out a selection.

Play-acting referee sends player off

Yes, you read that right. A player in the Brazilian league was sent off in a game that was played over the weekend, not because of his actions, but the referee’s own actions in a bizarre moment.

Former Brazil international Luis Fabiano suffered the ignominy of receiving the red card after squaring up to the referee over a questionable decision. The Vasco Da Gama captain had tripped his opponent unintentionally after slipping up, and was immediately shown a yellow for the foul.

Unhappy with the decision, he squared up to the referee, chest to chest, and lowered his head. The referee responded by taking few stumbles backward as though he was head-butted. After recovering, he showed a red card to Fabiano, much to the player’s chagrin.

Here’s a question now: What’s becoming of the beautiful game when those controlling it are guilty of flopping?

Miss of the season

When you are six yards out facing an open goal, it’s pretty easy to score, right?

Not for River Plate’s Argentinian striker Tomas Andrade though, as he found out over the weekend in a league game against Belgrano. What made it worse for him was the fact that it was a four-on-one situation, with Belgrano’s goalkeeper Lucas Acosta the only one in a position to be able to stop the River attackers.

Yet, with his teammates all lining up to score, Andrade was the first to the ball, only for the 20-year-old to produce a meek effort on goal. It was so weak that Acosta, who was had move out of his goal-line in an attempt to cut out the pass to Andrade, was able to recover and claw the ball away from the goal line.

Thankfully for Andrade, his team was already up by a scoreline of 2-1 and they managed to hold on for the victory. Otherwise, we aren’t sure if he will be able to sleep peacefully for the next few days.

Nick Kyrgios hits impossible tweener

At the ongoing Miami Open, Australian Nick Kyrgios hit an impossible tweener against Alexander Zverev. Kyrgios jumped and made impossible shot, which happened to be a side-spinning crosscourt winner. This one will make you go ‘wow’.

Blocking the same shot… twice

Blocking a shot may appear to be the norm in basketball, but to block the same shot twice?

That’s just what Celtics big man Amir Johnson did in a match against the Milwaukee Bucks. Chasing down Bucks point-guard Malcolm Brogdon, Johnson managed to get a hand to the weak layup attempt and swat it against the backboard.

But Johnson wasn’t done just yet. Instead of collecting the rebound, Johnson used his trailing hand to smack the ball against the backboard once again, before it was collected by a teammate.

That was just way too brutal.

JaVale McGee denied by the rims twice

Everyone’s favourite NBA player to laugh at is back, and he’s back with a bang.

Golden State Warriors JaVale McGee finished the game against the San Antonio Spurs with four points on six attempts and just three rebounds in 12 minutes of playing time.

Of those six shots attempts, he had three rejected – one by Spurs centre Dewayne Dedmond and the other two by the basket rims. Yes, the rims.

McGee had open dunks on two occasions in the game, including early on when the Warriors were down 15-3, but he blew both attempts. Luckily, the Warriors managed to overcome their deficit to win their game, although they probably didn’t receive much help from McGee.

Suffice to say, it was indeed a rough night for the big man.