NBA Playoffs

[Rocktheworld]

They changed that rule. They can review any block/charge for legal guarding position in the last 2 minutes.

Block is the correct call on that Durant play though. As a secondary defender, he has to establish legal guarding position before Durant begins his upward motion. He's moving his shoulder into him and left foot plants (establishing the guarding position) after Durant has begun the upward shooting motion.

Is it weird they can overturn it? Yes. Should they have called it a block in the first place so they didn't have to overturn it? Yes.

The NBA just clarified that the replay has to be initiated over judging whether or not the defender was inside or outside the restricted area. Then, from there, may reverse or confirm the block/charge. My point stands; review never should have taken place.

But even if that's not the case, why make up that excuse to go to replay? Just say you want to get the call right if that's how the rule really is. NBA could have simply said as such.

 

[champs99and04]

They aren't the ones who grabbed a rebound 4 feet from the basket and then ran away from it.

They'll sleep just fine, and they should. That whole game was filled with absurd no calls both ways. And LeBron had an all-timer.

As I said, I like everyone on their team. But at some point I have to concede that they have gotten every conceivable break at every point along the way.

I'm irked by everything that has happened over the last two years. I don't fault them for adding Durant, but it created a dichotomy that simply doesn't fit my ideal form of sports entertainment. I've come to adopt a specific view on how sports should mimic life, and while I support Durant's "right" to sign where he wanted, it isn't a decision that aligned with that preference.

But I'm more irked by Kyrie's trade demand. Tonight's LeBron performance really crystallized that for me. I think you have to be an enormously self-important brat to decide that you're too good to make it work with him and I think you have to be an even bigger weasel to facilitate the whole thing from behind his back. So more than anything I'm rooting for LeBron to stomp Kyrie into the puddle of irrelevance he was prior to 2015. And when I see him doing that to the tune of 51-8-8 against the team that dusted both their asses last year, I prefer for the officials to stay out of the way.

If it's possible for someone to go 1-3 against a particular opponent and come out of it with way more of my respect than anyone else, that's what has happened here. With every passing day I grow more convinced that the Warriors are a bug on LeBron's windshield. The fact that they're about to match him in titles is a grave injustice to the history books.

 

[ihatepants]

 

[Rocktheworld]

This will not receive enough likes

In his post-game JR just completely made up a fake (and worse) rationale for dribbling the ball out. Only an idiot of his caliber would try to make up a worse lie than reality. YOU CAN SEE IN THE REPLAY HIM SAYING "I THOUGHT WE WERE UP"

 

[Adios]

LeBron insisted on JR and Tristian and loses Kyrie. What a sad story and waste of talent, apart from him being rich as heck. This series ain't over, regardless.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I was gonna say earlier, I wonder if you play him going forward.

And I mean at all. Let alone in the final 5 minutes of either half.

KD should be thanking JR personally because if he put that in, we and the media would be going IN on KD (who by the way was there and failed to box out despite being 5 inches taller)

Real talk. KD will be calling JR the real MVP. He took Durant off the hook.

I think they have no choice but to play him, but I think your question is real.

 

[Scoe]

JR Smith's dumbazz move will be Bill Buckner level stuff.

At least Bill Buckner tried to make a play.

 

[Scoe]

Lebron walking away from the Mic can you blame him, could you imagine MJ having JR as a teammate, I know he had Rodman but at least Rodman had basketball smarts.

 

[Rocktheworld]

At least Bill Buckner tried to make a play.

Probably knew the score too

 

[Rocktheworld]

at least Rodman had basketball smarts.

...and was one of the best rebounders of all time.

Side note, those shorts LeBron was sporting...

 

[MadDogRevival]

It was wing night and I missed most of the game.
I tuned in late and saw . . .
Some guy named Looney? hacking LeBron about 3 inches above his elbow late. No call.
Saw Durant get called for a charge that got reversed. Never saw a block/charge reviewed before.
Saw Hill cleanly knock the ball away from Durant in OT and get called for a foul.

Not a huge Cleveland fan, and I won't watch them again in 10 days when this series is over, but man they got jobbed by the officials.

Regarding JR Smith - I absolutely dislike his style of play - I'll take steady over streaky any day of the week. And JR is just not an intelligent human being.

BUT . . . the dude did get the offensive board. That appears to be overlooked by most. And Hill missed the game winner. People are being waaay too hard on JR. Brain cramp, to be sure, but it was an offensive board and that alone that even allowed the bone head play to happen. And he didn't "cost them the game," because they would have had a hurried look at best. Ridiculous to focus on him when . . .

. . . the refs were so bad I'm embarrassed for the NBA. You'd think that the reversed charge call was representative of a fixed game, until you realize that the Cavs winning would have been the best result for the NBA. So, not fixed, just horribly broken (see what I did there?).

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

But when the Cavs lose this series people will rag on lebron for going 3-6 in finals. As if Jordan or any player would lead these misfits better than lebron to winning the chip

 

[champs99and04]

They changed that rule. They can review any block/charge for legal guarding position in the last 2 minutes. (EDIT- I guess this is wrong. I have been mis-informed by the bad people of Reddit).

Block is the correct call on that Durant play though. As a secondary defender, he has to establish legal guarding position before Durant begins his upward motion. He's moving his shoulder into him and left foot plants (establishing the guarding position) after Durant has begun the upward shooting motion.

Is it weird they can overturn it? Yes. Should they have called it a block in the first place so they didn't have to overturn it? Yes.

No doubt in my mind that it was a block. That said, the nature of the call is such that it's almost always going to look like a block on the replay. When I saw it live, I thought it was a charge, and I side with the offensive player in that situation 99% of the time. I think you open up a huge can of worms by making that a reviewable play - you don't want to put officials in a situation where players/coaches can bully them into reviewing a bang-bang play. Plus, the fact that they can only review the play for a specific reason but then they can change the actual call for any reason is straight up bizarre and will lead to more "confusion" over whether a player was in the circle. It's like if the officials wanted to review whether a receiver got two feet inbounds and then while they were at it they called a pass interference on the defender.

 

[tzznandrew]

You're nuts.

I'm an unbiased observer. Golden State got 3 or 4 key calls in the last 5 minutes of regulation.

1. LeBron got fouled on the arm which was a no-call assuming a clean strip.
2. Then Cavs got called for 2 fouls on 2 clean strips.
3. Icing on the cake was the terrible charge/block reversal in the final minute. Even though it was close, you gotta stick with the call on the floor there. Yes Bron was moving but the rule is different in the NBA... you can move but he maintained position prior to KD making a move up. LeBron established a legal defensive position despite the fact he was still moving. He did not initiate contact. You cannot reverse that.

JR being an idiot will get the headlines.
But there was obviously some serious home cooking there for a series of calls which absolutely changed the outcome of the game.

That whole game was a mugging off the ball, and pretty much on every single drive by both teams. The announcers highlighted these two ones, but I found myself baffled by the lack of calls on both teams. And it started with the Cavs, who have no chance in this series except to be absurdly physical, basically just pushing, grabbing, and holding, and the Warriors following suit. So those particular plays were just four not particularly egregious in the context of the whole game, but made so by the announcers.

 

[MadDogRevival]

And it started with the Cavs, who have no chance in this series

But for the refs it's 1-0 Cavs, so "no chance" is too strong. Lol.

 

[GAlawyer]

JR any relation to Roscoe?

 

[tzznandrew]

But for the refs it's 1-0 Cavs, so "no chance" is too strong. Lol.

We'll see.

Also, if you want to say "But for JR" or "But for Hill," I'm with you. But I also predicted that I thought the Cavs might steal Game 1.

The refs weren't to blame. They were equally bad.

LeBron is brilliant. If he continues to score 45+ and Love continues to go for 20+, well then I'm wrong. Oh, add in that KD shot 1-7 from three.

 

[the Q]

They changed that rule. They can review any block/charge for legal guarding position in the last 2 minutes. (EDIT- I guess this is wrong. I have been mis-informed by the bad people of Reddit).

Block is the correct call on that Durant play though. As a secondary defender, he has to establish legal guarding position before Durant begins his upward motion. He's moving his shoulder into him and left foot plants (establishing the guarding position) after Durant has begun the upward shooting motion.

Is it weird they can overturn it? Yes. Should they have called it a block in the first place so they didn't have to overturn it? Yes.

Unless fake basketball has a very different definition of when you start the upward motion (cause I know they have fake rules Line continuation already) that’s a charge. Clearly there before take off. You don’t have to be a statue to have legal guarding position.

 

[Dogdeacon]

LeBron just played the best basketball game I’ve ever seen anyone play on the biggest stage, when doing so was the only way his team had a chance to win. It’s a shame the Cavs aren’t up 1-0 and a bigger shame we are talking about anything other than how great that guy is. A privilege to watch. He made so many great shots, huge defensive plays, grabbed big key rebounds and dozens of pinpoint passes to open shooters. At one point early I honestly thought he might shoot 80%+ for the night. He was spectacularly great. Wow.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

If you locked JR Smith and Draymond Green in a room with nothing but a table with the key to the door sitting on it, do you think they’d be able to find their way out?

 

[the Q]

If you locked JR Smith and Draymond Green in a room with nothing but a table with the key to the door sitting on it, do you think they’d be able to find their way out?

No chance in hell.

 

[Purple Stein]

Not to worry JR Smith will have his Shaqtin a fool moment coming.

 

[polycom]

Lebron walking away from the Mic can you blame him, could you imagine MJ having JR as a teammate, I know he had Rodman but at least Rodman had basketball smarts.

MJ would have beat up JR...

 

[superjohn]

Was with Lebron until he stood up and he's wearing tight shorts and he picks up his purse before storming out of the room...

Check out @SportsCenter’s Tweet:

 

[champs99and04]

We'll see.

Also, if you want to say "But for JR" or "But for Hill," I'm with you. But I also predicted that I thought the Cavs might steal Game 1.

The refs weren't to blame. They were equally bad.

LeBron is brilliant. If he continues to score 45+ and Love continues to go for 20+, well then I'm wrong. Oh, add in that KD shot 1-7 from three.

The real shame of it is that the Cavs needed that game a lot more than Golden State. It felt like, if this was going to be a series, they needed to steal one of the first two. Now that you lose game one, a game that, even if it was called fairly at large, tipped the scales late with some calls in Golden State's favor, it feels like this is going to be another five game series where some will argue the Cavs got screwed and others will argue the Warriors are the far better team. Both will be true, because while you can sit there and point to calls that were missed the whole game, the basic psychology of that outcome is such that this seems impossible to overcome.

It has some Lakers/Magic 2009 vibes. As a fan, you always feel like you get cheated the most when the underdog comes up just short. And when the tie doesn't go to the runner with the whistle, it's especially frustrating.