LeBron James has been fouled with a little bit of animosity as of late. It’s as if people go for blood when they hear LeBron in the MVP conversation. In his most recent game against the Atlanta Hawks. He was locked up as if he committed a crime. Head coach David Blatt has noticed the fouls that have been committed on his superstar leader. And he’s a little concerned about it. He voices said concern on Ohio.com.
Blatt was upset over an offensive foul called on James and had to be restrained by assistant coach Tyronn Lue. But in his explanation Blatt said he was upset over all the hard hits James has been taking.
“I just think LeBron is getting hit, and getting hit every time he goes to the basket, and half of them are ignored,” he said. “Because of the strength and the power he brings to his drives, it’s easy to overlook a lot of stuff.”
15. James was belted again tonight going to the basket by DeMarre Carroll, but I didn’t think it was dirty or flagrant. It was just a good, hard foul. Carroll even made a play on the ball. But when it comes on the heels of the Jonas Valanciunas takedown and the James Harden kick, all of these events are coming a little too close together.
16. “It does seem to be a trend,” Blatt said. “That’s going to happen now and again, but when it’s happening continually that’s worrisome. And it should be worrisome for everybody. Because there’s ways to defend guys and ways to defend guys physically, but there’s a limit and that limit needs to be recognized.”
I think Blatt is trying to say to the NBA and the Referees that this is getting a little silly now. And I kind of agree. Not as strongly as Blatt is. But when you give Valanciunas a flagrant 1 for decking LeBron. There’s not much else the refs can do. In that case it wasn’t worth an ejection. So what else can happen? Order teams to not touch LeBron? Have fun with that.
