JR. Smith: You can't touch Avery Bradley. He's like Kobe now.

[crimson_stallion]

The sad part is that this was clearly a case of a player criticising officials, and yet he probably won't get fined because he plays for Cleveland.

As for the previous person who said that officials don't intentionally give stars special treatment - I have to say I don't agree. 

How many times did KG (much as I love the guy) get away with illegal screens?  How many times have we seen Lebron get away with the most obvious travels, and blantantly obvious fouls?  How many times has Dwight Howard performed clearly unsportsmanlike fouls, yet didn't get ejected of called for a flagrant?   

On the other hand, how much did Avery Bradley get tortured by the officials early in his career?  Every time he played tight on-ball D he would get called for a foul.  Now when he does the same things, no call.

Obviously rookies get the short end of calls, veterans are allowed a much longer leash, and superstars can usually get away with murder.

[TheFlex]

The NBA will do this until their is outrage, at some point, there was last year.   In the finals LeBron had the same refs as the rest of the world.   I watched five minutes of our last game, and you could tell how it was going to be.

I hope it lights AB's fire and he shows up!

Exactly. Everyone knows what's going on (as evidenced by the little conversation had by the announcers), but until a big fuss is made about it nothing will change. It's just ridiculous that people will accept the status quo just because it's the status quo. I'm telling you, if I was Stevens and this game goes the same way, I throw a fit about it to the media. At least it will buy you a game or two of more fairly officiated basketball.

And the rest of the league needs to join in on the fight, too, because virtually every team outside of the Cavs, Clippers, and Rockets (and maybe the Thunder) have an interest in a more fairly officiated game that doesn't give the megastars of the league a huge advantage.

The game won't change and it shouldn't.

It amazes me that some the league's old timers (not you, just talking in general) glorify the Bird/Jordan days where superstars got the same if not more favorable treatment from the referees.

I highly doubt the referees go into games deliberately looking to protect LeBron or Durant. The problem is that the referees can't be in perfect position to make every call. When a guy without the athleticism of LeBron barrels towards the rim flailing his arms and screaming (Jordan Crawford, Evan Turner), he's not going to come out of a scrum in which the referee can't make out any distinguishable contact with a foul call, even if he really got hacked, because he looks out of control. When a guy goes to the rim and looks graceful and the referee knows he has superior strength/speed/body control/ball handling, but can't make out of a foul when 3 or 4 defenders swarm to protect the rim, he's going to get a foul call, even if he didn't get hacked at all. The referee can't always see what happened, so a lot of it is the assumption that someone had to have fouled the offensive player if they make a good, strong move to the basket but the shot doesn't go in. To me, that's not primarily about a superstar's unspoken allegiance with a referee. Superstars -- particularly ones with appealing athletic ability -- look more in control driving to the rim and defending. So they get the benefit of the doubt when the referee can't see what truly happened. That's fine with me.

Even granting that, how does that explain all of the non-calls on defense that Lebron consistently gets away with? I agree with you that the refs don't consciously go out and try to favor star players, but they do it anyways by ALWAYS giving the star the benefit of the doubt, to a fault. Hell, just two seasons ago Lebron went TWO WEEKS without getting called for a foul, even when he plays an aggressive style of defense.

I think the reverse logic is true for non-calls. When a lesser offensive player than LeBron attacks him, the lesser player looks out of control. Compounding this appearance issue is that LeBron looks more in control defensively than the average player does. When the refs aren't in position to see what exactly is happening as other players obstruct their vision, the player that looks more in control gets the benefit of the doubt. Offensively, that means getting the foul call. Defensively, that means the refs swallowing their whistles.

[kozlodoev]

As for the previous person who said that officials don't intentionally give stars special treatment - I have to say I don't agree.

Does that mean Thomas is a star now? He's been to the line 18 times so far, compared to just 12 for LeBron

[Celtics18]

As for the previous person who said that officials don't intentionally give stars special treatment - I have to say I don't agree.

Does that mean Thomas is a star now? He's been to the line 18 times so far, compared to just 12 for LeBron

He's been the Celtics biggest star in this series.  And the refs have certainly been rewarding him with some friendly whistles. 

[iadera]

This is really Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.y team, these Cavs. I'm affraid they'll be pushed by refs until the very end of these playoffs.