LEBRON'S ROCK THE BABY WHILE TAKING FOUR OR FIVE STEPS ON THE WAY TO THE HOOP
It's clearly nonsense like this.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290104027
The first time I saw the move, I yelled "WALK!!" As I do numerous times whenever I am bored enough to dwell on an NBA game while channel-surfing.
Lebron, I know you skipped the virtues of college life to ply your trade in the NBA, but please tell me your high-school was at least concerned enough about you to teach you how to count to three before you left.
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FROM THE ARTICLE:
Was it a walk? YES, YES, H-E-L-L YES!!!!
LeBron James wants the NBA to take a closer look at what he calls his "crab dribble." The move, James insists, does not constitute traveling. After they take this "closer" look, they should send an internal memo to all referees, all superstar players, all players who think they are superstars as well as coaches and owners saying basically:
"This is a travel, from the time they toss the ball up until the final whistle. Any referee that cannot stick to this standard will be terminated. Any player, coach, or owner who disagrees with the standard will be subject to standard penalties ranging from technical fouls for on-court behavior up to and including fines for childish comments and behavior after the game. Good day."
A referee disagreed Sunday. Good for him or her.
James was whistled for taking an extra step while driving for a potential tying layup with 2.3 seconds left, and his Cleveland Cavaliers lost 80-77 to the Eastern Conference-worst Washington Wizards despite wiping out a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
"Bad call," said James, who compiled 30 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. "We all make mistakes, and I think I got the wrong end of the bargain. I watched it 10 times after the game, and it was clearly a good play." Watch it ten more times, a hundred more times, a thousand more times until you understand. Maybe ask a Hall of Famer like Oscar Robertson to describe to you why it is, was and always should be a travel.
Without raising his voice or getting particularly animated, James dissected the game's key sequence in extensive detail -- even pointing out that he felt he was fouled as he released the shot, which went in. The foul occurred after the travel. We're going this way. Play.
His biggest beef, though, was with what he considered a misunderstanding of the way he moved to the basket. No, there is no misunderstanding. Unless it's on Lebron's part.
"You have your trademark play, and that's one of my plays. It kind of looks like a travel because it's slow, and it's kind of a high-step, but it's a one-two just as fluent as any other one-two in this league. I got the wrong end of it, but I think they need to look at it -- and they need to understand that's not a travel," James said. "It's a perfectly legal play, something I've always done." I scoured the NBA rule for this "trademark play exception" that you speak of. Couldn't find it. Your logic is flawed. Just because it's something you've always done and gotten away with, doesn't mean it's legal. This is what is fundamentally wrong and somehow un-American about the NBA as currently officiated, that there is somehow a different set of rules for superstars versus "regular" players. When you say it "looks like a travel", you've made the case for me. There's a famous legal decision where the judge decided a case based on the logic "if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck....it is a duck" I apply that logic in this case. Next case.
Indeed, Washington's Caron Butler -- who scored 19 points and guarded James most of the game, including on that closing play -- remembers that same move, without an officials call, from one of the teams' recent playoff meetings.
"I definitely knew he traveled, but I didn't know they were going to call it," Butler said about what happened Sunday. "That was one of them situations in which a great player made a move, good officiating, and they called the call. And I was like, 'Oh, man, there is a God.' " As if I haven't provided enough solid evidence that the call was a good call, then the quote from Caron Butler seals the deal. This was such a good call that a Butler found salvation for his eternal soul. I'm sorry LeBron I understand your the King and all that but you've been trumped here by the Lord. Let it go, bro.
FROM THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DELAER:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1231147927253670.xml&coll=2
"It looked like it could've been a travel," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "It was a good aggressive move by LeBron, and the official made the call that he saw." Your coach is not even entirely behind you on this. That should tell you all you need to know.
And I'm not blaming LeBron for this, I blame the NBA, the referees who have let this gone on far too long. It's not fair to the legends who played the game for years and years before and compiled their records while performing within the context of the rules. (Sound familiar)
Why doesn't anyone step up and defend the Bob Cousy's, the Oscar Robertson's and all the other players who simply followed the rules, competed and didn't worry about "developing" trademark rules that are outside those that have worked for years and years?
That's what happens when you lower your standards. Now stop crying!!
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