As many basketball fans know by now, the NBA has become very lax in calling traveling violations recently. While we have seen some absurd walks this year such as Russell Westbrook’s nine-step saunter against the Golden State Warriors, we’ve also seen our fair share of traveling violations go unnoticed by referees.
One of these examples took place just last night in what is already considered by many the game of the year in a matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the scorching hot Washington Wizards. Washington held a one-point advantage down to the final seconds of the game in which LeBron James took the Cleveland inbound and attacked the lane, euro-stepping right by a helpless John Wall and coming up empty on a point-blank layup that would’ve given the Cavs a one-point edge with less than five seconds to go in the contest. During the motion, James is clearly seen taking too many steps in what was a blatant travel.
Following the monumental 140-135 overtime victory over a worthy opponent, James admitted he traveled on the play. Following from Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic:
LeBron missed a layup and blamed the travel, which wasn’t called, for him not making the shot:
“The extra step that I took, which was a travel, threw me off of my rhythm. It was a point blank layup and I missed it.”
Following the layup, John Wall canned two clutch free throws to give Washington a three-point lead. While the play in question was a huge blunder on LeBron James’ part, the King more than redeemed himself with a miracle fadeaway three-point bomb courtesy of a sharp Kevin Love heave to send the game into overtime. James also discussed the circus shot following the game:
“I was blessed to be in a position where I could make up for it. Kev [Love] game me a great pass, a play that we work on in practice.”
Last night’s matchup between two Eastern Conference powerhouses was one for the books, as the atmosphere was awfully similar to that of a postseason affair. With Washington looking like a real factor out East behind their uber-talented backcourt pairing of John Wall and Bradley Beal, hopefully we get treated to a seven-game series between these two squads come playoff time.
