by cheater1034 on Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:44 pm
LeBron doesn't too often get that angry about a no-call, but he was pretty angry at the refs there (in the press conference he said it was incidental contact and he got the shot off he wanted, which I don't really believe)
But I thought the rule for continuation was if a player is fouled (LeBron) and lebron doesn't dribble (move) and he goes into his shooting motion, then it's a shooting foul.
LeBron did pick up his dribble after he was fouled (he did not dribble after the contact) and went instantly into his shooting motion.
I don't think there's any doubt it was a shooting foul, lebron would of had 3 free throws and who's to say whether he would of made them all or wouldn't of. It would of been a huge step in his career to make or miss the clutch free throws of a pivotal nba finals game 3.
It was 3 free throws, lebron was having a pretty good free throw night (he didn't shoot that many, but he only missed one), nobody is to say whether he could of made or missed the shots - but it would of given lebron a CHANCE to send the game into OT. This cost the cavs a chance to send the game to OT, which who knows what would of happened. I'm not saying they lost the game because of this single call, they jacked up too many 3s and played poor offense, their defense kept them up/close for most of the game, and at the end tony parker (bastard) ended up hitting a 3 (i think he was contested, not sure), and he's not even a good 3 shooter.
But the refs didn't just cost the cavs a chance to go to OT and win the game, they also cost the NBA because if lebron made or missed those free throws it would of got TONS of media coverage for years to come (he blew it in the clutch, or lebron got over the hump of not being a clutch player after that single even). I'm actually surprised they took that away, and more games = more $ for the nba, so they called a fair game until the end, which is wrong in every way - but looking at both perspectives (1) It was clearly a shooting foul and bowen wanted to foul him --- we were in the bonus, so bowen wanted him to have 2 FTs. and (2) They took away possibly more games of the finals, and tons of media coverage which is all $$$.
So all in all, I don't know what the hell the refs were thinking not calling that, especially from perspective #2, they usually fix some games for more media interest (Especially in playoffs), but when the NBA has a chance to make some money and the officiating crew blows it, you REALLY have to worry about what's becoming of the NBA.
I mean, lets face it, if lebron didn't get fouled he would of got a higher percentage shot because he wouldnt of went into his shooting motion so soon.
I don't know, I'm just really flustered.
*edit*
PS: About drew gooden, I already said this, who cares if he's going over the back to get rebounds, I used to do that all the time in the post when I played. It's not that he's stupid, it's him playing with some extreme passion. In a game this big obviously you guys haven't played the game of basketball before, or you played on very sucky teams -- You want to do everything in your power to help your team, Drew's mental focus was on the ball, he wanted the ball, his team needed the ball, he didn't care who was in his way, he wanted the ball. That's not stupid fellas, that's part of this game, that's playing with passion in a big game..... plain and simple. I'd pay you money if you can find a coach that would scold his guy for going for the rebound in any big game, even if it was out of his reach --- No coach would, because that's energy and emotion, that's a big part of the game of basketball.
Also (not related to drew or game 3 or nba finals), I can't be more pleased with this team than I am, I'm so glad we have a clean program going on, like I've seen in the past rasheed wallace: Loses game 3 in 2006 eastern semis, says "Cleveland got lucky, cleveland is a dog shit town", or w/e he said. In game 6 of 2007 ECF, cleveland pulls away in the fourth quarter, rasheed gives unnecessary contact and gets called for a technical, and then starts cursing out the refs on his way out of the ECF. But, LeBron who didn't get all the breaks from the refs like dwade did or w/e, and doesn't get that call at the end of the game says to the media "I felt it was incidental contact, and I got the shot off I wanted it just rolled out", that just is amazing.
No offense to detroit fans for the example, I absolutely know detroit fans want to cleanup their program, or atleast cleanup the attitudes of guys like rasheed or webber. I've talked to detroit fans and they like rasheed's emotion, but they hate it when he pulls stuff like he did last year in the semis, and this year in the ECF.
