Are these "Officials" in Witness Protection?
I just checked the Box Score and Zip. (I won't link to the 4-letter Spin Machine, so....)
"several members of the Cleveland Cavaliers found fault in the officials for contributing to their collapse.
"It wasn't a foul on my sixth foul," said LeBron James, who fouled out with 1:52 remaining in overtime and the Cavs up by three, for contact with Atlanta's Paul Millsap while jostling for rebounding position. "I knew I had five [fouls]. I knew the ball was going long. So I may have grazed Millsap a little bit, but I mean, throughout the course of a game [that happens]. I didn't push him or anything like that."
It was the second time this season that James has fouled out, and that is the most in any season of his 14-year career, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He also fouled out in the Cavs' 140-135 overtime win in February in Washington. Sunday was the sixth time in his career that he fouled out of a game.
It was hardly the only call the Cavs had a problem with. There was the jump ball called when Millsap and Kent Bazemore wrapped Kyrie Irving up where the baseline met the sideline out of bounds with four seconds left in regulation. The replay showed both Millsap and Bazemore with a foot out of bounds as referee Derrick Collins rushed in and signaled for the jump ball.
"We had some bad breaks, obviously, with the jump ball," James said. "A couple of their guys were out of bounds. And then with the jump ball for Kyrie in the corner, I'm sitting right next to the ref [Leroy Richardson] and asking for a timeout, and the explanation he gave me, I never heard in my 14-year career. Never. So it doesn't take away from the fact that we still had a huge lead to start the fourth, but every play counts, no matter what is going on."
James was asked to share the explanation that Richardson gave him for turning down his timeout request.
"He told me that I'm not allowed to call timeout because he didn't know who had possession of the ball," James said. "And I was the one who entered the ball to Kyrie. And as soon as I seen Millsap go trap Kyrie in the short corner, I looked at him and called timeout twice -- at least twice -- and he wasn't even paying me no attention. And that's when the jump ball happened. I said, 'Why?' He said, 'I can't call timeout because I don't know who has possession of the ball. I don't know what's going on. I don't know the tie up.' I said, 'That doesn't make any sense because we have the ball. I entered the ball to Kyrie, so you shouldn't even be worried about the tie up or not. I'm calling it as soon as I saw Kyrie is getting tied up in the corner.' So I've never heard that one before. I've never heard that explanation before in my life."
Richardson also called James for a five-second infraction when he was inbounding the ball with 18 seconds left in regulation and the Cavs up 109-105.
"It was pretty quick," James said of the call.
One member of the Cavs could be heard uttering "f---ing Leroy Richardson" outside the visitor's locker room after the game.
I wonder Who?
