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March 5, 2015It takes considerable force to knock a 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound chiseled athlete off of his course when he is running at full speed. Unfortunately for LeBron James, he’s finding this out the hard way as he completed what was his second game in the last three for the Cavaliers wherein he received several hard fouls en route to the basket, the latest being a flagrant foul handed to Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas, leading to some in-depth discussion as to what the future holds for those who choose to err on the dirty side of play.
With 18.8 seconds left in the third quarter, Valanciunas, Toronto’s 7-foot center, harnessed James areound the neck and shoulders leading to a few verbal altercations. The infraction was initially whistled as a standard foul before being upgraded to a flagrant foul 1 after an official’s review of the video replay. On Sunday, James was the victim of a kick to the groin from Houston’s James Harden, a play which led to the shooting guard being suspended for one game. Both fouls received very little in the way of retribution from Cavalier teammates, something that is decidedly different from the days when Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were frontcourt bodyguards of James. The new-age Cavlaliers have a pair of bodies in Timofey Mozgov and Kendrick Perkins to handle a lot of the dirty work, but both were off of the floor when the latest infraction occurred.
“There’s time and places that you can get one off,” Perkins said of said retribution. “I feel like you just have to make sure it’s the right time. But at the end of the day, you’re just trying to go out there and play basketball. It’s a physical game, and obviously he was trying to send a message because he’d been getting beat out there on the pick-and-roll. And it happens. But it’s just bulls—. That ain’t cool.”
Valanciunas went on record saying that he was simply “protecting the rim” with his foul, but Perkins wasn’t having any of it.
It’s a difference between a hard foul and a dirty play,” Perkins said. “Obviously that was a dirty play. He was just going to the basket, you wrap him around the neck. That’s just … . We ain’t got time for that type of s—, man. They say they’re trying to deliver a message, but somebody could really get hurt. You know what I’m saying? I think it was the right call, a flagrant 1, but we just don’t have time for that type of s—. That ain’t cool.”
For all of the attention that this will get nationally, James, a target of these types of maneuvers throughout his career, is handing it well by saying all the right things.
“I don’t want to get too much involved in it because I don’t want to cry about it because it’s not like I’m not able to get back up, but it’s a lot of plays that are just not basketball plays,” said James following the Cavs’ 120-112 win over the Raptors. “And I’ve said it before, it’s just not basketball plays. But the referees, they take care of it. They decide what [type of foul] it is or not. That’s what we got rules for. And for me, I need to maintain my focus and understand how important the game is, but at the same time, protect myself as well.”
Starting the game slowly, James was apparently ignited by the foul. He went on to shoot 4-for-5 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, finishing with 29 points and tie his season high with 14 assists as the Cavaliers officially clinched the playoff tie-breaker over the then two-seeded Raptors.
15 Comments
I’m actually surprised that this is coming from me as I’m usually quite a homer about these sorta things, but I really didn’t think the foul last night was THAT bad. No, it was not a basketball play. Yes, it was a hard foul. But we have seen and will again see MUCH worse. JV didn’t throw him down as hard as others have and he didn’t actually hit him like others have.
That’s all well and good Mr. Perkins, but you weren’t signed for your good looks or your offense.
Come playoff time, you’d better channel your inner Mahorn.
I disagree I think it was a bad play the fact Jonas tried to fake caring only to have LBJ throw his fake arm off was great. That “tackle” could have easily ended up around LBJ’s neck. I was hoping we’d see Perkins on the court. After Houston and now Toronto it seems like teams are becoming more physical as the playoffs near.
I bet he would’ve had he been on the floor.
Don’t like the way the Cavs handled (i.e., ignored) this. They can’t rely solely upon LeBron’s own payback, because the next time the takedown might injure him and then your season is lost.
Opponents are reacting to LeBron’s strength and speed by raising the stakes with, to use the term de jour, “non-basketball plays.” The Cavs need to respond with actions that create a Pavlovian response in opponents and refs. An elbow to the neck may get Mozgov or Tristan or Perkins ejected, but will stop it from happening so easily and will force the refs to understand that they must nip it in the bud before it escalates. Guys on rookie contracts or bench salaries don’t really want Flagrant 2 fines or knowing they’ll be marked.
And respectfully disagree, Scott, that Z or Wallace were much in the way of enforcement, though that’s what Wallace did years before he got here. The players in this org historically have not stood up for fellow players, with the exception of the George Karl and Mike Fratello years. In the cerebral Lenny years they would just crumble when the Pistons and Philly would knock them around.
A slightly harder foul and he may have anyway off the bench (what’s the difference between DNP-CD and suspended other than the fine).
Guys on rookie contracts or bench salaries don’t really want Flagrant 2
LeBron needs to let everyone know that he’ll cover fines for people defending him.
” it seems like teams are becoming more physical as the playoffs near.”
That’s a really interesting observation. Can’t help but wonder if this is the current playbook for defending the Cavs – Try and rough up Lebron to see if you can distract him and/or the team in general. Against Houston he didn’t step up at the very end. In Toronto he had a huge quarter to wrap up the win. Should be interesting to see if the rough play becomes a trend, and also interesting to see how the Cavs and Lebron respond.
Not sure I want the Cavs to respond in an over the top physical manner. In a perfect world, Perk would be there to shove the instigator and help Lebron up, Lebron would hit the free throws (not so much), and make them pay with stellar play (mission accomplished) and a big win on the road.
The Cavs (despite the presence of Perk & Moz) are not brawlers by nature; they want to move the ball, score, and play enough D to win. I would hate for them to distract from what they are supposed to be doing to settle a score and have the game devolve into a 90s Knicks-Heat game. Most of their opponents would most likely welcome that.
That’s why you do it hockey style.
If your star forward gets roughed up, you send the goon out next shift.
But, it’s ok, we don’t need him to go all Probert on someone until the playoffs, when the refs are a little more lenient.
THANK YOU. Would it be so bad if he came off the bench and got suspended- once, anyway?
It would be the proverbial not having to buy a drink anywhere around town.
“Don’t point at Probert!”
http://youtu.be/uNouBFMHTtU
The enforcer supreme. R.I.P.
Poorly disguised, non-basketball actions are ejection-worthy when there is potential for injury. If you’re not playing basketball, get off the court. Its not complicated.
Ain’t nobody got time for dat.
I played basketball when I was younger, I have played the game all over, but my days on the courts and in the gyms in New York City, Brooklyn, Harlem, East Harlem, i’ve played against guys from all of the 5 boroughs, what James Harden did to LeBron James and what that dude in Toronto did when I was playing basketball, both would have ended in fights,
because that’s not basketball, basketball is physical but it’s not dirty, it’s finesse, teams are doing this to LeBron James because they envy his game, he does what he wants to you and that’s frustrating from a basketball point of view, but basketball is not football, football is physical, basketball is finesse, the game has no room for dirty basketball, because a player could get seriously hurt with that bull, I think the league need to intervene before it gets out of hand, that type of basketball is not playoff basketball so don’t misinterpret the two, but besides that LeBron James is arguably the face of the present NBA, and personally don’t like the way these players are trying him, and somebody asked how will him and The Cavs respond? Sit back and watch my team do their thang.