James whistled with first foul in four games against Suns.

[SamuelAdams]

LeBron James whistled with first foul in four games against Suns?

From ESPN Insider section.  I am not a member there. Anyone here read the article?

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2ffeatures%2frumors

[Ersatz]

LeBron James whistled with first foul in four games against Suns?

From ESPN Insider section.  I am not a member there. Anyone here read the article?

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2ffeatures%2frumors

Not a member either. But that's just amazing. Absolutely amazing.

[Rondo_is_better]

typical

[incoherent]

One of the common gripes against LeBron James -- besides his ability to get foul calls against him -- is his ability to never commit any defensive fouls himself. Or rather, as some call it: the refs swallowing the whistle against a star player fans have paid to see. Last year, he was averaging an incredibly low foul rate.

So it's not surprising to read this note in today's Arizona Republic after the Suns-Cavs game last night.

"A rare NBA treat happened late in the second quarter Monday night," writes Paul Coro. "For the first time in four Suns-Cavaliers games, LeBron James was called for a defensive foul. He fouled Jason Richardson under the basket in the final minute of the first half, only to get another foul three minutes into the second half against Amar'e Stoudemire. James also had banged Richardson in transition with no call in the first quarter. James is a good defender, but nobody is good enough to go 130 minutes without a foul."

[Bahku]

Doesn't surprise me ... but it makes me nauseous. Really sad that the favoritism gets this bad and that the officials somehow think that the rest of us are morons and won't notice that this crap is going on. A major re-tooling of the officiating system is needed soon, or the waning interest in the NBA will continue ... and get worse. I'm just plain sick and tired of the super star stroking that's going on ... time to bring integrity and fairness back to this great game, before it no longer is so great.

[Prof. Clutch]

I think the game would be far more interesting if they just called things evenly.  The fact that he never gets whistled for fouls makes his complaining after every call where he doesn't get a foul called more annoying.  I want to like Lebron and be happy for the league that they have such a talented young superstar to entertain for the next decade, but he's more of a villain than someone I'd want to root for (and not just because he's on the Cavs, there's plenty of players I've rooted hard for over the years who haven't been associated with the Celtics.)

[Drucci]

The fact that he never gets whistled for fouls makes his complaining after every call where he doesn't get a foul called more annoying. 

Agreed. I was amazed the last time I saw LeBron getting called for a foul and reacting like he got ejected of the game... while he just picked his first foul of the game midway through the 3rd quarter (and probably his first one in 5 games ).

This favoritism is just ridiculous. Even Kobe doesn't get that love from the refs. LeBron plays 38 minutes a game, one of the leaders in minutes played, and yet he is averaging about 1 foul per game, and a lot less than all the other superstars... ridiculous.

[nickagneta]

What's really sad is that last year I saw some media types hyping his low personal foul rate as an indicator for him to be given......get this......the Defensive Player of the Year Award. I haven't been able to Google find the article, but I definitely remember reading it. Paraphrasing it went something along the lines that LeBron's man and help defense had gotten so good that he could guard his man almost to the point of being in his uniform without fouling him as he had an absurdly low personal foul rate.

Also, the title is a bit misleading. In the last 4 games that the Suns have played the Cavs, lebron hasn't been called for a foul. Actually LeBron's PF rate is actually a little itsy bit higher this year than last and the last time he went without being called for a foul was on Dec 2nd.

[lon3lytoaster]

LeBron James, the immaculate.

[dark_lord]

thats crazy.  when i 1st hear that i am surprised, but when i sit back and think for a minute....it really isnt that surprising.

and the nba states their officials are fair and unbiased, ****!

[MBz]

Reason number #1948 why NCAA basketball is more enjoyable to watch then the NBA.  The NBA is losing it's fans because of this.  I really do not consider myself an NBA fan, but I do consider myself a Celtics fan.  I'll watch the Celtics but no other NBA team.  With a college game, I find myself being able to watch many many teams and enjoying them all.

[nickagneta]

Reason number #1948 why NCAA basketball is more enjoyable to watch then the NBA.  The NBA is losing it's fans because of this.  I really do not consider myself an NBA fan, but I do consider myself a Celtics fan.  I'll watch the Celtics but no other NBA team.  With a college game, I find myself being able to watch many many teams and enjoying them all.

Can't help but agree with this. I love watching NCAA basketball. Any game. Doesn't matter the teams. I do consider myself an NBA fan and watch NBA games all the time. But I avoid like the plague games in which one of the anointed "Stern Stars" are playing in. For this reason, although I do watch these teams, I avoid it as much as posiibe. Those teams: Cleveland(Lebron), Los Angeles(Kobe), Orlando(Howard), Denver(Melo), and Miami(Wade). Now I still do watch these teams but freely admit if the refs start getting crazy with the "Stern Star" calls, I shut them off fast.