Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue wasn’t happy about the way LeBron James is being treated by the referees in the NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night and Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue is not happy about the way four-time MVP LeBron James is being treated by the referees.
Lue was miffed that James only went to the free throw line four times during the 108-97 loss despite a couple of instances where a foul possibly could have been called on drives to the basket and thinks the refs aren’t being fair.
“He never gets calls,” Lue said, via ESPN. “I mean, he attacks. Outside of Russell Westbrook, he’s one of the guys that attacks the paint every single play. And he doesn’t get a fair whistle all the time because of his strength and because of his power and guys bounce off of him. But those are still fouls, and we weren’t able to get them. But we’ve got to play through officiating.”
James didn’t want to go as far as Lue and risk a $25,000 fine for criticizing the officials, but he was clearly not happy about the minimal trips to the line this series. James has been to the charity stripe 17 times over the first four games and his 5.4 free throws per game in the playoffs would be a new career-low.
“It’s been like that all year for the most part,” James said. “I’m not quite sure what I can do personally to get to the free throw line, but I’ve got to continue to be aggressive for our team. I’m getting hit, but the refs are not seeing it that way, on my drives. … You know, it’s tough playing 46 minutes and only going to the line four times, as much as I attack the rim. So it’s just a tough situation for our team.”
We’ll see if the referees will give the King the benefit of the doubt when the two teams meet again for Game 5 with the Cavs facing elimination or if it’ll be more of the same we’ve seen the entire playoffs.
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