Tag: nba officiating

Thoughts On Cavs’ Game 4 Loss And Officiating.

There are so many thoughts that go through your head after the loss of a key game, and we aren’t involved as players and/or coaches.

However, it is more than 24 hours after the Cavaliers’ 108-97 loss in Game 4 of The NBA Finals, and we still can’t get the horrible officiating out of our heads.

Yes, there are other reasons for the loss.  Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson got their long distance shooting going, making 50% (11 of 22) of their three point shots.

From the Cavs’ standpoint, there was an over reliance on LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, who took 49 of the team’s 81 shots, and the percentage was almost 95% in the last 18 minutes of the game.

A week or so ago, we talked about the Warriors playing like the mid 1990’s New York Knicks, coached by Pat Riley.

Those teams were uber aggressive defensively, appearing to foul on each and every possession, daring the referees to call every infraction.

Of course, they didn’t, or else the games would last close to four hours and would never develop any sort of rhythm.

Golden State shot more free throws than Cleveland (31-26) but many of those came late in the contest, when the wine and gold were trying to get the ball back, so for most of the game, the Cavs had an edge.

This would mean the officiating was in favor of Cleveland, and our theory is blown, correct?

First of all, the Warriors took 44% of their shots from behind the three point line, making it unlikely that Cleveland is going to foul someone on those shots.

The Cavaliers took 31% of their shots from behind the arc.

LeBron James, the best player in the league, took 21 shots, including five three pointers.  That means he took 16 shots inside the three point line.

Without the play-by-play sheet, let’s say half of those 16 shots came from 10 feet and out.  We say this knowing that this is probably not true, it’s more likely around six of those shots were long twos.

So, James went to the basket eight times, and was fouled only twice? It’s more likely you will see a unicorn than that is the case if you watched the game.

And we aren’t even counting Irving’s frays to the basket, and the number of times Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love got hit inside.

One of the reasons the Warriors can use their “small” lineup is they are allowed to bump and grind inside without a call.

We know this sounds like sour grapes, but we’ve seen this all season from Golden State, not just in The Finals.

We haven’t mentioned the questionable screens they set offensively, most notable by pulling guards Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut.

Why are they allowed to play this way?  That’s a question no one asks the league office.

This style of play is frustrating to opponents, because players know when they get hit, and what does or does not constitute a foul.

When they don’t get the call they received all season and all through the playoffs, you can imagine the frustration level grows higher and higher.

By the way, it is difficult to be James as a player.

When he is a distributor, then people want to know why he’s not assertive, why he doesn’t try to take control of the game.

When he takes a lot of shots or dominates the ball, then he needs to play more of a team game.  He can’t win.

It is likely the Cavs’ season will end Monday night in Oakland watching the Warriors celebrate once again.  Our guess is that the wine and gold’s players will be seething.

Because the Warriors are getting over on the NBA.

JK

Blatt Needs to Learn to Protect His Star

All year, Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt has railed against being called a rookie coach.

While it is true that he has a tremendous amount of experience as a head coach on the international scene, certainly more than his counterpart on the Golden State bench, he is a novice in knowing the way of the NBA.

This has nothing to do with his ability to coach players, devise scheme, and put his squad in the best position to win.  While we can all debate how much LeBron James has to do with the Cavs’ success, and it is plenty, Blatt changed the style of play for the wine and gold enough that they can be competitive in this series despite the loss of all-stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Where Blatt needs to learn about the NBA ways is in protecting his superstar player.

He needs to speak out about how the officials are referring the best player in the game, LeBron James.

In last night’s 104-91 loss in Game 5, James shot just nine free throws, and one of those came as the result of a defensive three-second call in first half.

That means he shot one less free throw than Draymond Green, who took nine shots for the game, of which six were inside the three-point line.

By contrast, James took 26 field goal attempts inside the arc, and apparently was only fouled on four of those attempts judging by the number of free throws.

We think even the most even-handed professional basketball fan would think that is ridiculous.

The next time Blatt speaks to the media, he needs to mention that he has the sport’s best player, and that player is attacking the rim pretty much on a consistent basis, and he is simply not getting the calls.

Phil Jackson did this as an art form, both when he coached Michael Jordan and also when he had Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.  He cleverly pointed out that his guys got the short end of the officiating stick, especially when they lost a game.

Steve Kerr even did the same prior to Game 4, when he mentioned certain things being “legal”, and that he wasn’t aware of those things.  Kerr, of course, played for Jackson with the Bulls.

For the entire series, the Cavaliers, a team that has slowed the pace and tried to jam the ball to the basket, have shot just 12 more tosses from the charity stripe than the Warriors, who everyone would agree are a perimeter based team.

Based on the styles of play, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cleveland shot 5-10 more freebies than Golden State on a per night basis.

The insulting thing is how James hasn’t been able to get to the line.  Even some veterans NBA writers and observers, including ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, have commented on how James isn’t getting the whistles usually associated with great players.

He won’t mention it, because it would be out of character for James.  But his coach needs to have his back, and he needs to make the comment prior to tomorrow night’s game because the Cavs either win or go home.

You might say it is gamesmanship, and it might be.  It also may be the truth.  We all see the replays and there is no doubt LeBron James is getting hit on a number of his shot attempts.

He shouldn’t be penalized for his size and skill set.

JK