I don't think the refs were horrible today. It's just that the calls they missed were extremely high profile and over the line ridiculous.
I was listening on the radio and I heard the Cavs made a hard foul on Harden and the refs didn't called it.
LBJ was allowed to do too much, but I'm so glad he wasn't ejected. That win feels 3000x better with him in there choking than it would without him.
50/50 call in my mind and despite what Hubie was saying, IMHO Bev was still shifting his body sideways. Blocking foul. As for the shoving after the foul...I personally felt Lebron was more at fault but not so much so that the double tech that was called wasn't appropriate.
Two calls that stand out to me were called blocks on Motiejunas & Beverley (the one they got techs on) against Lebron. The way I saw it (and the announcers stated the same) They should have been offensive fouls. There were quite a few other instances where calls weren't made & should be for both sides but those two and the armbar on Harden by Lebron are what stands out the most. Funny how the same player is involved in every questionable call ?! .... Hardly.
The weird no call in overtime is one of the dumbest no calls I've ever seen. If it wasn't a foul (it was) then Harden took about 10 steps so it should have been a travel. Otherwise I don't think the refs swayed the outcome of the game that much. Calls, like plays, are more important in the clutch. I thought overall they did a good job even in the clutch, that one call aside. Lots of good no calls. Rockets almost lost because of the first 4 minutes of the 4th, turnovers and so many missed shots in the paint. That's not the refs fault. As an aside on the last board, when is the time out technically called. When the whistle can be heard or when the red implies he was acknowledging the time out in his head? As a fan it's impossible to gauge the later. I wasn't sure what they were reviewing? Are they retiming it?
You're going to get some bad calls in every game... unless they run replays on every possession. As long as the calls don't impact the outcome of the game, I'm fine with it. The call everyone is screaming about where Lebron and Harden hooked arms in my opinion should have been a no call. The only comment I have about that is that Harden stopped playing while the clock was still running. No matter what the situation is, it is a bad idea to stop playing so you can protest a call... particularly in a game where the officiating was acceptable. If anything, I thought the Rockets were allowed to play extremely rough in the post and against Lebron... but it went both ways. There was a lot of contact on a lot of plays. I thought it was exactly like a playoff game in that regard (which I think is BS in general, but it happens). The one HUGE TAKEAWAY I got from this game was that the Rockets won a very physical game and Harden played extremely well. The Portland series last year was physical like this, Matthews (Portland) was given more leeway in that series to prevent Harden's movement than the Cavs had today, but nevertheless, Harden played very well in a very physical and important game.
I thought they missed a few, and most went Cavs way. LeBron got superstar treatment. He clearly pushed Bev down like he was in a wrestling match. That should have been called for something. On that foul that was called against Bev, it was a charge, even Hubie openly said it on TV. So taking the missed called and a no-call on LeBron's intentional extra-curriculum activities, then they called a flagrant on Harden, who was taken down by LeBron first. Then they only left 0.2 seconds off from a missed FT, only to be corrected by the more experienced one in the crew. F if I had to grade them.
I think this should be a wake up call to the Rockets and Harden going into the playoffs. Harden has a lot of tricks that he uses to get to the foul line, and in the last few minutes of games the refs are not going to give him those calls. He'll need to change his game up a bit.
the game was officiated very fairly. i have no problem with the officiating whatsoever. that being said, i'm glad we came out with the win!!!
Lebron & co. were throwing their weight around like gorillas. The poetic justice was LBJ missing all those free throws. But, as several have already stated that's the NBA. Superstars get the calls.
