Lebron gets star treatment

[RebusRankin]

We all knew there was a bias but this is still shocking.

[twinbree]

The dude should average 1.72 charges per game alone!!

LOL. How did I miss this? TP for the laugh. I imagine Brown would quickly blow a gasket if that happened. Remember how he completely overreacted and got ejected in the crabdribble game?

[Drucci]

I just finished a little research about LeBron and his fouls ratio in the playoffs and guess what? His star treatment is far superior to the one he benefited during the regular season!

Lebron James averages 0,7 foul per game in 3 games played in the playoffs, with an average of 40,5 minutes per game. He's been called for two fouls in three games. He had 0 foul in game 3, and just one in each of the previous games. He ranks 148th on 186 active players in the playoffs, which means that he is one of the players who commit the fewer fouls in the playoffs.

Just to compare, here are Wade, Kobe and Pierce' foul stats from these playoffs (all three are as good as LeBron on defense and they are stars) :

Among the 186 active players in the playoffs, Dwyane Wade is the 8th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Joakim Noah and Bynum among others) with 4 fouls in 40 minutes per game(a total of 8 fouls after 3 games).

Kobe Bryant is the 44th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Ray Allen and Derek Fisher among many others) with 2,8 fouls in 40 minutes per game (a total of 8 fouls after 3 games).

Paul Pierce is the 66th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Shane Battier and Rip Hamilton among others) with 2,3 fouls in 38 minutes per game (a total of 7 fouls after 3 games).

LeBron James is 148th on a total of 186 active players, tied with Maxiell (13 minutes per game), Farmar (4 minutes), and along with Josh Powell or Joel Anthony who are called for 1 foul in 4 minutes of play.

LeBron plays 40,5 minutes per game and his average of foul after 3 games is 0,7.

Sure, the guy is a good defender... but so good that he commits no fouls while playing almost the entire game? Come on, refs...

[Cman]

I just finished a little research about LeBron and his fouls ratio in the playoffs and guess what? His star treatment is far superior to the one he benefited during the regular season!

Lebron James averages 0,7 foul per game in 3 games played in the playoffs, with an average of 40,5 minutes per game. He's been called for two fouls in three games. He had 0 foul in game 3, and just one in each of the previous games. He ranks 148th on 186 active players in the playoffs, which means that he is one of the players who commit the fewer fouls in the playoffs.

Just to compare, here are Wade, Kobe and Pierce' foul stats from these playoffs (all three are as good as LeBron on defense and they are stars) :

Among the 186 active players in the playoffs, Dwyane Wade is the 8th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Joakim Noah and Bynum among others) with 4 fouls in 40 minutes per game(a total of 8 fouls after 3 games).

Kobe Bryant is the 44th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Ray Allen and Derek Fisher among many others) with 2,8 fouls in 40 minutes per game (a total of 8 fouls after 3 games).

Paul Pierce is the 66th player who commits the more fouls (tied with Shane Battier and Rip Hamilton among others) with 2,3 fouls in 38 minutes per game (a total of 7 fouls after 3 games).

LeBron James is 148th on a total of 186 active players, tied with Maxiell (13 minutes per game), Farmar (4 minutes), and along with Josh Powell or Joel Anthony who are called for 1 foul in 4 minutes of play.

LeBron plays 40,5 minutes per game and his average of foul after 3 games is 0,7.

Sure, the guy is a good defender... but so good that he commits no fouls while playing almost the entire game? Come on, refs...

TP.  I was thinking of putting something like this together after "witness"-ing (get it?) LBJ's 0 fouls in the last game (coupled with an 18 FT disparity... against the home team).  Of course, the criticism would be that you are working with a small sample size (3 games so far), and this could entirely be due to Detroit not knowing what they are doing out there {in other words, it could be a Detroit effect, not an LBJ effect}.

[kenmaine]

5 on 8 every game. It really is sickening. WWE stuff.
And no KG for the C's.
Impossible? Probably, but I'll be watching and hoping anyway.

[CeltiCpRide79]

Anybody who lived through Richard Nixon, read about Tricky Dick, or has seen the recently released Nixon/Frost film will relate here. When Nixon breaks out with the "It's not illegal if the President of the United States does it!" line, it sums up what LeBron has going now. "It's not a foul when the King of the NBA does it!"

The guy has been an active student of basketball, and shown it a lot of respect on his way up, but in Game 3 in Detroit yesterday, you could see that entitlement has now caught up with LeBron James. When he threw that highlight pass out of bounds, it was the second time James reacted like he could not believe he didn't get a foul call on plays where he had no business thinking he didn't create the contact and make a blatant error.

Those two non-calls gave me some hope. Maybe when he runs into a motivated and healthy three (poor wounded Tayshaun Prince). they'll actually call some fouls on him on defense too. LeBron obviously won't become like a PGA golfer and resolve this inequity himself, and he's going to be a bear if the officials turn their favor away from him, much the like the even bigger antagonist Kobe has become with the officials since his tricks wore out their luster. This year the King has been annointed. It would give me extreme pleasure to see the Truth told instead. They have gifted the guy the MVP over Wade and Bryant this year thanks to this awe-struck officiating. Forget about how many of those wins at the Q they jacked on blind referee eyes. Didn't the NBA have enough trouble with rigging games a couple years ago to push it through the budget and clone Dick Bavetta forty times? They have a long enough line of credit for it, thanks in a big way to LeBron and Kobe ... tough snake eating its tail scenario.

[PosImpos]

The NBA will do what it can to ensure a Kobe vs LeBron finals, especially the LeBron part.  That means ensuring that Cleveland is favored by the refs, and LeBron more than anyone, obviously.

[RAcker]

So few fouls. What's Lebron doing that Mikki isn't? 

That is hilarious.  I think you hit the nail on the head.  Mikki is the anti-Lebron.  He breathes on a guy and it's a foul. 

[BrickJames]

So few fouls. What's Lebron doing that Mikki isn't? 

Steroids?

[davemonsterband]

All you people that babble on and cry over how much of a god Michael Jordan is should realize who you're talking about, Knicks fans would be saying this about MJ back then and C's fans are saying this about Lebron now. He who generates the $$$ is above the game, like it or not, I see no reason to act surprised by it.

[get_banners]

the league is headed for a serious scandal w/ the refereeing - last year's playoffs were the most egregious case of doing everything possible to force as many game 7's as possible i've ever seen. james is at the forefront of this. it will be nearly impossible for anyone to beat cleveland in the postseason if they play at least mediocre. they might lose a few games, but i unless they really play bad, i can't see them losing a series. maybe the pistons should go back in time and bring back the jordan rules for lebron. only problem is, he's as big as a defensive end. either way, teams need to have their players foul lebron as hard as possible, because they're going to be called for touch fouls or non-fouls, anyway. might as well actually foul him.

[cordobes]

But can anyone actually point to a couple of fouls LeBron James committed and weren't called?

[PosImpos]

But can anyone actually point to a couple of fouls LeBron James committed and weren't called?

Crab-dribble for one

[cordobes]

But can anyone actually point to a couple of fouls LeBron James committed and weren't called?

Crab-dribble for one

The one vs. the Wizards? It was called. And travel violations don't count as personal fouls anyway.

[twinbree]

Game 1 against the Pistons the Cavs starters combined for a whopping 5 fouls!
No defense can be that good. Factor in the usual incompetence of NBA refs in calling ticky tacky fouls and you'd expect them to average more fouls even if they were that good.