The ABC announcers and the Refs

[incoherent]

Halfway into the 2nd quarter the announcers had an interesting back and fourth.

Basically, about 3 replays indicated Lebron getting away with blatant fouls.. which prompted this discussion..

I think it was Mike Breen: "Lebron could easily have 3-4 fouls at this point"  instead he only had 1 or maybe 2.

Van Gundy responds with something like "Arent you associated with the NBA? I dont want to see Lebron sitting!"

Does anyone else have a problem with this?  Van Gundy is a very candid person, and he is right.. him, and the ABC crew, are 100% in bed with the NBA, and they all benefit from Lebron staying on the court.  He is literally confirming the conspiracy is 100% real.. He said it himself when he questioned Breen who dared to openly say Lebron should have more fouls called on him.

Did we all think Lebron wouldnt get fouls called on him, yes.. we all did. But it sucks to see it actually happening.  He's getting away with blatant hacks and goal tends. We are conditioned by the NBA to believe its OK that superstars get all the calls. 

Just so happens our team has zero all-stars and will not benefit from this unwritten rule.

I really hope to see a more fairly officiated game. The Cavs have some amazing all-star talent.... they simply do not need the refs help. Lets see some fair games, if we get beat by the Cavs thats fine, but I dont want to get destroyed by them because the refs are helping them as much as they did today.

And I would like to see some more attention being put on the refs to call the game more fairly.

[GreenFaith1819]

I'd have to agree.

I heard the back and forth with the announcers as well, and saw 3/4 of the game.

LeBron James should've had easily 2 more fouls in 1st half from what I saw.

[fairweatherfan]

I really hope to see a more fairly officiated game.

Yup.

Van Gundy is a very candid person, and he is right.. him, and the ABC crew, are 100% in bed with the NBA, and they all benefit from Lebron staying on the court.  He is literally confirming the conspiracy is 100% real.. He said it himself when he questioned Breen who dared to openly say Lebron should have more fouls called on him.

Nope.

[Forza Juventus]

Van Gundy is an idiot. We didn't lose because of bad officiating though.

[jpotter33]

I'm right there with you, buddy. I knew beforehand these games would be hard to watch due to the officiating, but it still shocks you when even the national broadcast team is talking about it openly.

Other than the star players (Love, Lebron, Irving) it was a pretty fairly called game, but just look at Lebron's box score and it tells all. He picked up two early fouls (with quite a few blatant missed calls), and then the refs wouldn't call anymore fouls on him to not get him in trouble.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

Van Gundy is not literally confirming the conspiracy.
Van Gundy is running at about 50% sarcasm at all times. His schtick is analysis mixed with irony and sarcasm, i.e. the Marv Albert school (Jackson is just unfunny catch-phrases and outdated basketball thinking). To take his comments at face value is misguided. To take them as proving a conspiracy is the hallmark of conspiratorial thinking where every comment proves that the conspiracy is real.

[Beat LA]

Honestly, the calls, or lack thereof, just make me laugh now.  I do think that Van Gundy would have a significantly different view about Lebron not being called for fouls if he was coaching against him, however.  After all, this is a guy who called Jordan a con man (not that he was wrong, but still.).

Btw, this has to be my favorite clip/soundbite of him ever.  Let's just call it Jamie Fox ft. Notorious JVG - Blame it, ahaha.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDI7Jhxfm8

Momma there goes that man.

[celticsclay]

I do think the Refs played a bigger role in this game than some would like to care to admit. Lebron really should have had at least, if not two fouls called on him in the first half. That would have been 3 or 4 fouls. Considering we had built up a lead, there is a reasonable chance we would have had a small lead or at least been tied at the half and it can become a much different game. These calls even themselves were pretty big swings. I believe when he just completely rake KO's arm and got no ball, the Cavs went down and scored on the other end. I believe at the time we were in the bonus so that is most likely at least a 3 to 4 point swing on that single play (not to mention the residual impact of how aggressive lebron could play on D the rest of the game.

The goaltend was another clearly blatant two points taken away from the Celtics. When you are already doing a really uphill battle, having those 6 points go against you off the top of my head can make a game go from extremely difficult to impossible.

To be clear, yea we probably would have lost either way. We need to basically play perfect basketball and have the Cavs not play that great. Irving hitting guarded 3's all over the court is gonna make it unlikely we win. We did not shoot very well, particularly in the second half and IT was really careless with the ball. Still, you would like to have seen the games 100% decided by the players and it wasn't.

[alldaboston]

I have all the respect in the world for Mike Breen. He's dignified, and he knows what he's saying, as evident when he said LeBrona should have had 4 fouls.
Jeff Van Gundy is funny, sometimes fun to have on board, but he is way too opinionated,
Mark Jackson.. Let's just get him out of there...

[Chris22]

It is about time one of the announcers called out the refs mollycoddling of Lebron.

Lebron once went FIVE GAMES without having a single foul called on him.

If the game was fairly officiated, he would not be as dominant as he is. He travels every single time he makes a move.

[jpotter33]

Honestly, the calls, or lack thereof, just make me laugh now.  I do think that Van Gundy would have a significantly different view about Lebron not being called for fouls if he was coaching against him, however.  After all, this is a guy who called Jordan a con man (not that he was wrong, but still.).

Btw, this has to be my favorite clip/soundbite of him ever.  Let's just call it Jamie Fox ft. Notorious JVG - Blame it, ahaha.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDI7Jhxfm8

Momma there goes that man.

This is where I'm at right now. You learn to expect it, but that doesn't mean you accept it. It's just laughable how much they let the stars get away with. And certain teams are just the worst, i.e. ANY Lebron James team, Clippers, Rockets, etc.

This was one of the primary reasons I wanted the Hawks over the Cavs.

[jambr380]

It is a little painful to watch, but I was happy to see the slow-motion replays of the Zeller foul in the first quarter (would have been two early fouls) and the Thomas goal tend. It ensured that everybody knew what was really going on.

And I am in agreement that just a couple of calls/plays can swing a game. As we all know, basketball is a game of runs and it is entirely possible that the three humongous runs (2nd/two in 3rd) that Cleveland went on may not have occurred without that extra bit of momentum.

Still, though - Cleveland's crazy three-point shooting and the Cs total lack of ability to grab any defensive boards was certainly their demise.

[fairweatherfan]

Van Gundy is not literally confirming the conspiracy.
Van Gundy is running at about 50% sarcasm at all times. His schtick is analysis mixed with irony and sarcasm, i.e. the Marv Albert school (Jackson is just unfunny catch-phrases and outdated basketball thinking). To take his comments at face value is misguided. To take them as proving a conspiracy is the hallmark of conspiratorial thinking where every comment proves that the conspiracy is real.

Agree, Van Gundy's said a bunch of times that he hates foul trouble keeping stars on the bench, because he wants to see the best players play.  He's even argued (semi-sarcastically) against fouling out at all.  That's all he was doing here. 

[Beat LA]

Honestly, the calls, or lack thereof, just make me laugh now.  I do think that Van Gundy would have a significantly different view about Lebron not being called for fouls if he was coaching against him, however.  After all, this is a guy who called Jordan a con man (not that he was wrong, but still.).

Btw, this has to be my favorite clip/soundbite of him ever.  Let's just call it Jamie Fox ft. Notorious JVG - Blame it, ahaha.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDI7Jhxfm8

Momma there goes that man.

This is where I'm at right now. You learn to expect it, but that doesn't mean you accept it. It's just laughable how much they let the stars get away with. And certain teams are just the worst, i.e. ANY Lebron James team, Clippers, Rockets, etc.

This was one of the primary reasons I wanted the Hawks over the Cavs.

I didn't say that I've accepted it, it's just that it no longer gets me worked up.  Now I just roll my eyes and move on, lol. I don't agree that it would have been better to have played the Hawks, though.  Have you forgotten how much of a thug Horford is, and how much crap they got away with in 2008 and 2012 against future hall of famers?  Why would it be any different this time around? 

Edit: I'm surprised that you didn't put the Spurs on that list.  Duncan is a notorious crybaby and whiner and they're so protected by the officials it's ridiculous.  Those guys get away with murder, and have for a long time.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Halfway into the 2nd quarter the announcers had an interesting back and fourth.

Basically, about 3 replays indicated Lebron getting away with blatant fouls.. which prompted this discussion..

I think it was Mike Breen: "Lebron could easily have 3-4 fouls at this point"  instead he only had 1 or maybe 2.

Van Gundy responds with something like "Arent you associated with the NBA? I dont want to see Lebron sitting!"

Does anyone else have a problem with this?  Van Gundy is a very candid person, and he is right.. him, and the ABC crew, are 100% in bed with the NBA, and they all benefit from Lebron staying on the court.  He is literally confirming the conspiracy is 100% real.. He said it himself when he questioned Breen who dared to openly say Lebron should have more fouls called on him.

Did we all think Lebron wouldnt get fouls called on him, yes.. we all did. But it sucks to see it actually happening.  He's getting away with blatant hacks and goal tends. We are conditioned by the NBA to believe its OK that superstars get all the calls. 

Just so happens our team has zero all-stars and will not benefit from this unwritten rule.

I really hope to see a more fairly officiated game. The Cavs have some amazing all-star talent.... they simply do not need the refs help. Lets see some fair games, if we get beat by the Cavs thats fine, but I dont want to get destroyed by them because the refs are helping them as much as they did today.

And I would like to see some more attention being put on the refs to call the game more fairly.

Boston didn't benefit from this rule even when it had 4 all-stars and 3 future Hall of Famers in the lineup.