The Cavs dropped their Christmas Day game against the Warriors in Oakland 99-92. It was the first contest between the two since the 2017 NBA Finals, and, despite the absence of Steph Curry and Isaiah Thomas, it lived up to the hype by being a close, entertaining game.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant led the way for their respective squads and went head-to-head on a number of possessions down the stretch. Durant got the better of James on two possessions in particular in the final 90 seconds that turned the game in the Warriors’ favor and allowed them to pull away after a pair of LeBron turnovers.
However, there was plenty of controversy surrounding those two plays, as Durant appeared to foul James multiple times on those possessions that went uncalled. Twitter erupted over the no-calls, and while Durant shrugged it off after the game, the NBA sided with those that saw the plays as egregious no-calls in its Last Two Minute Report.
It was determined after review by the league office that Durant fouled James three times on those two plays, despite none of them being called. This was validation of sorts for LeBron and Cleveland, all though they won’t get those possessions back or the chance to win that game, but James still isn’t particularly pleased about the way the entire situation was handled.
LeBron isn’t mad about missed calls, he understands that’s part of the human element of the game and officiating. Instead, he’s most upset and disappointed with the way the referees handled it when he questioned the no-calls on the court.
“For me the actual worst thing is when I go over to the ref and they say it was nothing,” James said. “Like I go over…’You didn’t see that?’ ‘Nah I didn’t see anything.’ It was no call. No foul. That’s the worst, for me. If he says, ‘You know what, I might’ve missed that one,’ or, ‘Maybe I wasn’t in the right position,’ but when you see the ref right there on the baseline looking at the whole play and you go up to him and he says it’s no call multiple times in crunch time. That’s the frustrating part. And for me it’s even more frustrating cause I know how I’m officiated at times.”
The deteriorating relationship between referees and players with regards to communication about calls has been a big problem this season that both sides want to fix. For the players, they want to be able to have that dialogue and for refs to be honest with them, as James is noting, when they make a mistake or with what they see. For the refs, they’re tired of the constant complaints from players and the verbal abuse they take on a nightly basis.
Something needs to be done about it, and the NBAPA and the referees’ union are hoping an All-Star Weekend dialogue can help mend fences a bit. In any case, James seems ready to move on from the Warriors game, but hopes in the future to get a little more accountability from the refs.
