The NBA is ‘fessing up to their mistakes during crucial moments of Game 2.
We all saw one of them: LeBron being slashed in the arm by Andre Iguodala.
https://vine.co/v/eMVvWpD29pn
The NBA also said that a travel should have been called prior to the play taking place, given that LBJ had moved his pivot foot.
As theScore.com reports:
The league scored the missed James travel as an “incorrect non-call,” pointing out that James moved his pivot foot. They also scored the Iguodala foul an “incorrect non-call,” saying a shooting foul should have been called on the play. In other words, Iguodala’s foul should never have had the chance to happen, and the play would have ended in a Cavs’ turnover either way.
To me this doesn’t excuse the ref from missing AI’s blatant foul. A pivot foot slightly moving is an easy call to miss in the heat of the moment. A slash across another player’s shooting arm? Everybody saw that EXCEPT the ref standing just a few feet away in the corner.
There are two schools of thought as to why the ref may have missed the call, though, and they’re both sound logic.
A) the ref was focused on blowing the whistle for a shot-clock violation, as there had been just a couple seconds remaining on the clock.
Or B) LeBron is the boy who cried wolf when it comes to flopping. He’s always putting on a show for the refs whenever he feels he can gain the advantage. I’m specifically not stating here whether I believe this is a good or a bad thing, these are just the facts.
Having said all of that – I’m still disappointed the call was missed. It doesn’t matter when a foul takes place or whom it may have been against, you’ve got to blow the whistle.
This ref unfortunately must have just been zoning out during that play and not watching. I truly believe that…. There’s no other explanation.
Let just hope this will be the last apology needed to be given for the NBA during these Finals.
Oh and PS. — For all you people out there who are going to yell “What about the jump-ball! They should issue a statement for Green holding LeBron down!”:
That play is an extremely different dynamic when it comes to how to ref it. The man who throws the ball is currently required to simultaneously make the decision whether it was a good enough throw or not, and then watch the two players as they jump from their positions. That may sound easy reading it here, but as we found last night things move WAY too fast for a ref to be able to catch such a sly pull from the back that Green managed. Unfortunately calls get missed during games, and there are some plays (like that one) that are more likely than others.