INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — For at least the second time in this postseason, LeBron James took a subtle dig at NBA officiating Wednesday.
James said he has come to accept all fouls committed against him will be ruled as common fouls and not flagrants regardless of their severity. DeMarre Carroll went high in stopping James in his tracks during the third quarter of the Cavs’ Game 1 victory Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors. Officials reviewed the play, but ruled it a common foul even though Carroll went above James’ shoulders to stop him.
“I have no idea what a common foul and flagrant foul is,” James said. “I know what it is when it happens to someone else, but I don’t know when it involves me.”
James has taken several shots to the head in this postseason. Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond elbowed him in the head in the first round — one of many physical blows the Pistons dealt him in the series — and James was caught in the head twice by Bismack Biyombo on Tuesday and once by Carroll.
It wasn’t just James, however. Tristan Thompson landed hard on the court after he was fouled awkwardly by Biyombo. It was also ruled a common foul after a review, but Kevin Love was assessed the second flagrant of his career after he caught Patrick Patterson in the face with an elbow.
Love asked the officials for clarity on the rule and was told intent doesn’t factor into the decision.
“When you get a guy good like that, more often than not it’s going to be a flagrant,” Love said. “There was no ill intent on that. I was just trying to get the ball in to LeBron.”
Officiating has been a hot topic throughout this postseason after the league has admitted to several blown calls at crucial moments late in games. Few of those have directly impacted the Cavs, but James still ripped the league’s daily Last 2 Minutes report it sends out following close games chronicling all the calls referees got right and the ones they missed.
“It changes absolutely nothing,” James said of the reports during the first round. “I think it sends a bad message to our fans of thinking the game is only won in the last two minutes. A play in the first quarter is just as important as a play in the last four seconds. That’s how playoff basketball is played, that’s how the game of basketball should be played.”
James has suggested throughout this postseason he is officiated differently than other players. Reminded of all the blows to the head he has taken in these playoffs, James offered only, “common foul.”
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue has remained relatively quiet on officiating, but said Tuesday he believes the way a player reacts to the foul can impact the final ruling.
“Nowadays to get a flagrant foul you’ve got to fall down and grab your head and roll on the ground,” Lue said. “LeBron being so strong, guys bounce off him. He’s not going to hit the ground as hard as other guys do. A lot of times it’s still a flagrant foul. If someone else gets hit, they fall on the ground, grabbing their head, taking 30, 40 seconds to get up. That just automatically triggers the referees to go to the scorer’s table and review it and come up with a flagrant foul.”
The majority of the hard hits and questionable fouls occurred after the Cavs had a commanding lead in Game 1, which has been a recurring theme throughout the postseason. James did say, however, he believes officials did a good job Tuesday of controlling the physicality.
“There’s a lot of teams out here with pride. Everyone has pride. We knew at some point if the game got out of hand, teams have done that to us,” James said. “But they can’t get inside our heads because at the end of the day, our only main objective is to win a basketball game and nothing else matters. We just continue to protect our players. Both teams. The last four teams standing everyone needs to be protected out on the floor and I think the refs did a pretty good job of that.”
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