ECF OST: Detroit Pistons vs Cleveland Lebrons (Cavs win 4-2)

[-NoQuarter-]

Varajeo makes me want to fucking projectile vomit every time I have to see his clownish mop of hair sway when he flops.

That's not even the worst of it either. His constant hacking and pestering he does on D is so goddamn annoying to watch. He pulls jerseys, pushes, elbows, and all around tosses himself into people. No wonder Sheed gets so fired up when we play these bums. Now if only Chauncey could do the same...

[Black Dynamite]

Some people dumped on sheed for leaving Marshall open, but we wouldnt of even been in that scenario if he hadn't blocked 7 shots and played a heck of a game. Seeing what he was doing tonight, I think he's been the mvp so far this series. Maxiell may end up coming close if he keeps playing like he did.

Verajo is the most overrated big man in nba history. He's what Tom tolbert would be if they allowed him to hack that much. He is also a cheap shot artist with his constantly over dramatic flailing arms. If thats whats passing for energy, then i'll pass.

Delfino played terrific. Made shots, kept in front of Lebron better, pushed the ball when he saw space, and honestly I hope we get him in to rest Tayshaun more often.

The Cavs defense isn't that good, but they use the infamous rick carlisle shot clock killer offense to keep the score low. It seems to have gotten to us enough to keep the games close. We need to increase the tempo a little bit.

Mike Brown and lebron took the high road in the post game, but took the low road all during the game trying to overreact on every drive in hopes of swaying the refs. But they arent the disgrace. The disgrace is ESPN. They gave the most bogus bias report ever. by mid show Rip somehow "clobbered" and "mugged" Lebron on the last play. Hubie made me want to slap him into retirement. I mean damn, I hate Kerr for his retarded bias bs and even he said you can't call that a foul. I mean until it hit sportscenter only one idiot even saw if as a rip off(the no brain replacement for EJ on Inside the NBA).

With that said......


we played shitty again and that bothers me. Billups made silly TO's again also. I don't see us winning more than 1 game in cleveland(if that), if this very bad execution continues. We were fortunate, but didn't impose any proof that we can keep this from being another 7 game series.

[Black Dynamite]

On a another note. Chrissy Sheriden sees this as a chance to start up as much propaganda as possible..

Fine-worthy rebuke in order
Sheridan
By Chrissy Sheridan
ESPN Insider

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- I'm not going to kill Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown harder than anybody else in this column -- I'll save that honor for the referees -- for biting his tongue after the Eastern Conference finals Game 2 loss, 79-76, to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, although I think he did his team a disservice by trying to take the high road by refraining from criticizing the officials in the interview room afterward.

"We're a no-excuse team," Brown said, a line that was echoed minutes later by LeBron James.

But make no mistake, the Cavs were absolutely livid at the lack of a call when James drove to the basket with eight seconds left and was hacked numerous times by Richard Hamilton, including a rake across his arm as he went for the shot everyone had been waiting three days to see if he would take.

I asked Hamilton in the locker room afterward if he had fouled James on the play, and Hamilton couldn't stifle a cackle before he gave his answer: "Nah, you know. I just put my hands up."~Wow did he just try to flip Rip's answer?

And let the record show that he cackled at the end of that answer, too.~Yep he is trying to flip it

The non-call was so egregious, I'd expect Jimmy Clark, Bernie Fryer and Mark Wunderlich to be told by the league office that they can watch the rest of the playoffs from Joey Crawford's man cave, since they don't deserve to be working at this stage of the postseason if they're too scared to call a foul on the biggest play of the game. But I'm not sure whether those three referees will be taking calls from the league office on Friday, since all three must be scheduled for surgery to have the whistles they swallowed removed from their stomachs.

You know, Brown could have come up with a line or two like that that would have cost him a fine but at least would have earned him the gratitude of the Cavs' fans, who will wake Friday morning feeling -- and feeling it rightfully, I might add -- that they were screwed.

If that had happened to someone on the Lakers, you can bet your bottom dollar Phil Jackson would have spoken frankly about it, then taken his $50,000 fine like a man.

Same would have happened with Pat Riley if that had happened to the Heat, and don't even get me started on what Mark Cuban would have done if the Dallas Mavericks had been on the receiving end of that non-call. His fine might have made it into seven figures.

But this is all Brown had to say:

"The officials get paid a lot of money, and that's their job. If they don't see anything, they don't see anything. We're a no-excuse team. We've got to get ready for Game 3."

I pressed Brown on the matter by telling him I wasn't looking for an excuse, just a description of how that final James possession looked from where he was standing.

"LeBron drove the ball. He shot it, he missed it. Larry [Hughes] got the rebound, he shot it, he missed it. Andy [Anderson Varejao] tipped it, they came up with the rebound and we fouled them," Brown said.

So why did you get so upset?

"Just emotions. Tough game."

Maybe Brown expressed everything he wanted when he drew a technical foul with one second left, walking on the court to complain. That move is going to merit an explanation Friday, because think about it, when's the last time you saw a coach take a tech in a one-point conference finals game with one second left?

I also asked James about the play in question and what he was shouting at the referees when play stopped.

"That's over and done with. Me and the ref had a good conversation, and I've moved on as a player."

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree here, but where the heck is the indignation? By my count Hamilton slapped James on the arms three or four times when he was making his drive to the hoop, and that's not even counting the contact he took on the shot. If you wanted to be totally technical, there were probably five different instances of contact on which fouls could have been called.

Compared to Dirk Nowitzki's touch foul against Dwyane Wade in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year, this was an absolute mugging.

I can understand the Cavs not wanting to be seen as a team that complains about the referees publicly, but there's a way to get your point across without crossing the line.

What if Brown had said this: "I thought Hamilton fouled him three or four times, and I can't understand why the referees didn't call it, because I could see it plain as day from 50 feet away, and I only have two eyes. They have six. But what's done is done, and we're not going to blame the referees for this loss. We blame ourselves."

At least he would have been stating the obvious instead of acting like someone who feared the wrath of David Stern so much he was afraid to speak out.

And besides, complaining about a bad call or a non-call is not tantamount to making an excuse. They're two totally different things.

The Cavs had a right to be angry, and I felt Brown had an obligation to at least show a little emotion. If he wanted to go ballistic and spend $50,000 getting it off his chest, that would have been acceptable, too.

I just didn't like the whole specter of the Cavs slinking off into the night looking like they were almost afraid to stand up for themselves.

They got robbed, and either their coach or their superstar should have found a way to say so. Instead, they came off as being meek. And at this stage of the season, it is not time to be a pushover. It's time to stand up for yourself and state the truth, and if it costs you $50,000, so be it. At least the refs will hear your message, and the next time it happens you'll probably get the call.

It's called working the refs, and the best coaches do it when circumstances call for it. And on this night, Brown should have piped up more than he did.

Chris Sheridan wastes time writing false drama for ESPN Insider. To e-mail Chris, click here.

[Balloonsface]

Who in the hell is Chrissy Sheriden, the refs were allowing muggings all night long. If they had called a foul on that play it would have been a travesty. I'm not saying it wasn't a foul by definition of the rules, but in that game at that moment no way was it a foul. If fouls were called by the definition of the rules then Varejo would average about 12 minutes of PT a night.

[Glenn]

THE CAVS NEED TO STOP THE FUCKING WHINING!!

YOU DO NOT GET THAT CALL WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE.




Also, was it me or did Danny Ferry go apeshit on Mike Brown as he was walking off the court?

Also, I think the Cavs will fire Mike and hire Larry.

Brown, that is.

[Big Swami]

The rule of thumbs for refs is not "call what is most likely a foul." The rule is "call what you can definitely observe is a foul." Furthermore, not all contact is supposed to be whistled. The only contact that is actually illegal in the game is the kind of contact that's used to create an unfair advantage - pushoffs, for example.

Any game where you see all kinds of contact being called, or if there are tons of very debatable calls on things like goaltending, it tells you one of two things: first, that the officials are not doing their jobs; second, Dick Bavetta might be on the court.

EDIT: Balloonsface, that is the best sig I have ever seen.

[Fool]

Lebron is shit from the line in the clutch. He's better off not getting the call. If I were guarding him on that play I'd have Laimbeered his ass and then laughed in his face all through his free throw brick session.

[darkobetterthanmelo]

Go on the front page of ESPN.com, the results by state of "did lebron get fouled?" are hilarious. We seem to be in the minority...

[Fool]

Maxiell eats babies.

[micknugget]

It's all a bunch of crap anyways. After Lebron missed or even if we say that he was fouled, Hughes got the rebound and missed a jumper and then Varejo missed the tip. The Cavs lost, plain and simple, end of story.