(This is a picture of Lebron James after he took about 45 steps while not dribbling the ball before he jumped 3 times, and then scored a game-winning basket against the Wizards last Friday Night)
Friday night, I was watching the end of a very exciting playoff basketball game between the Wizards and the Cavs. (I had been out that evening chatting with a friend, so I came upon this game at the very end).
When I started watching, we were winning the game 92-91.
Then some stuff happens, and then this happens:
-With 30 seconds left in the game and the game tied at 93, Lebron James drives the lane on Jared Jeffries. He jumps up to put the ball up, then comes back down, and then jumps again and scores a layup. Everyone in the whole wide world who was watching the game saw the traveling violation, except for the 2 people who could do anything about it, the referees. No Call, Cleveland by 2 with 30 seconds left to go, me screaming and punching the couch.
-On the opposite end, Gilbert Arenas makes a truly spectacular play, driving the lane, getting fouled, and somehow the shot goes in. And One! Me screaming and doing the cowboy dance. Gilbert's free throw puts us up by one with 23 seconds left.
-On the next play, again, Cleveland goes to their star, Lebron James, who drives the lane, takes about 6 steps after he picks up his dribble, jumps, comes back down, and then scores a layup, putting them up by one with 5 seconds left. Again, everyone sees this travel, except for the officials. Me, in stunned silence, remains hopeful because of 5 seconds left on the clock and the Wiz have the ball, and only down one. We could still play for the win.
-Gilbert misses wide open 3 pointer with pretty much no time left. Wiz lose. Me, sad...and then angry....
How could the officials let Lebron get away with this? These are GAME-ALTERING NO- CALLS! I told Frank on Sunday that I was going to write an angry letter to David Stern. Here's what I'm writing.
Dear NBA Commissioner David Stern,
I am writing to you because I am enraged with anger about the outcome of the Wizards-Cavs game this past Friday night. As you know, the playoffs are very important, and the officials should not be able to alter the outcome of a game. They should allow the game to happen, and uphold the rules and integrity of the game. Key word: Integrity. (you may want to look it up, because you will see it again)
That clearly did not happen on two consecutive plays resulting in scores for Cleveland. It would seem that Lebron James is allowed to take as many steps and jumps that he wants to while holding the ball. These 2 No-Calls resulted in a loss for the Wizards. Had the game been called correctly, the Wizards would now be up 3 games to 1, instead of being tied in the series, going back to Cleveland. The thought of this makes me want to vomit my guts out.
Allowing stars special treatment seems to currently be a common practice of your officials. And for obvious reasons...the fans pay to see the stars, and it doesn't look good to have your stars on the bench with foul trouble. Makes sense. But in this case, these weren't fouls! They were traveling calls! Obvious Traveling Calls! Game Altering Traveling calls! In a recent poll done by ESPN, 73% felt that Lebron got away with traveling on those plays. That is high, considering the amount of people who are Lebron James fans.
This hurts the integrity of the game. The Wizards fans should not be forced to suffer in this way. As you know, sports are very important to a lot of people. People DIE for their local sports teams! People HAVE HEART ATTACKS for their local sports teams! People CRY about their local sports teams! People spend their entire paychecks on season tickets! Do you see what I'm getting at...people's lives are at stake. And I'm not even kidding.
Bring back the integrity! All we ask for is fairness! Allow the game to be won or lost by the players, and not by the officials. Don't Kill people! That's called murder, and is very illegal, as well as against the bible.
With Regards,
Jim
I can't believe I got up for work today. After staying up until 12:30am to watch the most exhausting, exciting, see-saw game of the NBA season , where the Wizards ended up losing in agony-inducing fashion making me repeatedly bang my head on my steering wheel while driving home, there was a 4% chance I was getting up for work this morning. Miraculously, I got up. But it was only slightly less miraculous than the duel between Gilbert and LeBron. And I am sure that LeBron and the Cavs won this game only because they were lucky enough to have the ball last with enough feasable time on the clock to score. Basically, the game came down to last possession wins, because Gil and LeBron were going to score every possession until time either time runs out or they drop dead. And actually, Gilbert should have had one more chance if the Wiz called a timeout with .9 on the clock, but I think he tried to draw a foul on his full-court heave, which I wouldn't put it past the refs to actually call that. But that was a mistake, they should have called timeout. One more gigantic, long-running mistake by the Wizards is their interior defense. Somebody please block an Eric Snow layup. If we don't draft a legit center like Aaron Gray or John O'Bryant, I'm going to crash my head through the TV screen.
