This raised a very interesting point, especially following last night's Heat-Nets game. James is widely regarded as the most difficult player to officiate since Shaq's prime. O'Neal was so big and powerful that it required an inordinate amount of force by opposing big men in an attempt to guard him. If they leaned on and bodied-up any other player in the league as they did to Shaq, they would have been called for a foul every trip down the court. The counter argument is that Shaq dished it out maybe even more than he took it, and usually the fouls went against the other guy. Tough is it must have been, I always felt NBA refs did a poor job of calling games with regards to Shaq.
Shaq backed into the defender so hard that it broke the other guy's spleen? Shaq was fouled!
But as a perimeter player, LeBron is an entirely different animal in terms of officiating. Like Shaq, LeBron is a giant relative to the players trying to guard him. He also has explosive quickness and leaping ability though, and it seems like the refs take a Space Jam approach on James' flights to the rim...that he is so big/strong/fast/athletic that he should be able to dunk over 2 guys while another 1 is grabbing at his ankle and a 4th delivers a well-timed kidney-punch.
Basically...
Back to the end of last night's game...did Mason Plumlee foul LeBron on his last second dunk attempt or not? People are taking both sides, but to me this is 100% a foul.
From every angle I've seen, Plumlee gets what in volleyball we call a microtouch on the ball, and then basically plays pattycake with James at the apex of their respective leaps. If you wanted to make a pie chart of what Plumlee actually touched, it would 1.5% ball and 98.5% LeBron's hand.
See? Thanks, Microsoft Excel!
Those in favor of the no-call are citing the hand is part of the ball rule, but that doesn't really apply in this situation, as Plumlee 1st contacts the ball, then gives James a high-five. If James was shooting a jumper, and Plumlee hit LeBron's hand or elbow on his follow-through, it would also be considered a foul. Why is this situation any different? Some are also bringing up the fact that James is a superstar trying to make a play at the end of the game on his home floor, and that normally constitutes a superstar call in that situation.
The counter to that is that James is a superstar and he does get his fair share of whistles his way. I mean, just for starters, James went to the line 14 times last night even sans free throws at the end of regulation. He averages 7.5 attempts a game, which is good for 8th in the league. And that number is only that low because James simply doesn't shoot that much...if he attacked and chucked now as much as he did in his Cleveland days, he would lead the league in freebies by a wide margin.
Some will also be quick to point out that James has been known to, umm, embellish a little bit in order to win a call or so every once in a while. I mean, LeBron-haters don't call him LeFlop for nothing. (I'm of the opinion that flopping is so prevalent that you would be hardpressed to find an NBA player who doesn't flop.) Is it possible that James has even lost some credibility with the refs?
I mean, there's merchandise and everything.
Whatever the reason, it's kind of a fascinating aspect of Heat games to watch for as we move closer and closer to the postseason...but that was still definitely a foul.
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