voice from a Chinese fan on LBJ getting classless treatment

[Zhuyankanqiu]

I've been watching and loving Lebron since day one when he entered the league. I've never seen such an otherworldly talented player before and I appreciate the could be once in a lifetime chance to eye-witness the greatest that this game ever has seen.

I was born and raised in China, and I frequently have to wake up early in the morning, sometimes at 3am in the morning, to watch a televised LBJ game (former Cavs & now Miami). I rarely missed any game as long as i could catch it by any means. now i really cannot stand the situation of having to see my favorate hero getting constantly bullied by the justiceless league night in, night out and can do absolutely nothing to help him out. it's time someone step up and stand up to the bully. i just cannot bear one more day where I have to put up with this... what the *** they are trying to do? the league would be so happy to see LBJ got smacked to the floor getting a season ending or even career ending injury? remember the fact he's not robot. he's absolutely mortal like any of us. he will age, he will die, he feels the pain, let's stop acting like it's justifiable to foul him hard and get away with it simply because he's strong. he's nearly 30 now!!! he could get hurt, and they will continue to foul nastily on him or even more harshly, as they know the ref will pretend to be blind on them. it's gonna be a vicious circle.

i really wish someone could do sth, to make things right. Miami fans should boycott NBA to protest it. there are fixed games too in China's basketball league, even to a worse extent than NBA. some of the fans are definately boycotting it. the League hierarchy has to put that into consideration, at least to some extent. I personally cannot think of better ideas. but i believe there should be a solution to this. I hope Miami fans, LBJ fans should do sth, being more vocal, maybe organising a protesting parade? I don't know, parading is banned in China, but i think you guys can legally parade.(based on what i heard). I really hope you guys do sth.

LBJ needs your help.

[420]

Great post.

Things I would love to see:
- Like you mentioned, a massive protest where the triple A is empty for a few games.
- Heat fans spamming @NBA's tweets with replies mentioning the garbage officiating.
- Beat writers that dedicated entire articles, rather than just one sentence (if that) in the post game recap, to how crappy the officiating has been and drawing comparisons of Wade/LeBron to guys like Dwight, Harden, Durant, Westbrook, etc.
- A head coach that doesn't respond with "it's not my job to campaign" when asked about whether he should be more vocal about how his best player is getting screwed by the refs.

Sadly, none of this will ever happen.

[HeatNation88]

We have a coach who is a pussy and has no voice

[unowen85]

I'm down with a hunger strike.

[kyphi]

or free tacos if the Heat win and score over 110. The thing is, Spo should take lessons from Pop on this. The players and fans appear to be whining if they blame the refs. Losers blame refs; winners find a way regardless.

[Zhuyankanqiu]

or free tacos if the Heat win and score over 110. The thing is, Spo should take lessons from Pop on this. The players and fans appear to be whining if they blame the refs. Losers blame refs; winners find a way regardless.

Losers blame refs...
so the refs can do whatever they want? where is equal treatment and justice? now LBJ is not being treated fairly or with respect, why everybody should keep silent? and how to find a way regardless? it's not like LBJ is 100 times greater than Durant, Heat is 100 times better than any other team in the league and can win all games by 50 points lead margin... the competition is so fierce and brutal, even one unfair officiating during clutch time could change a team and player's fate, let alone LBJ's no call AT ALL treatment.

i just don't believe if the officiating continued like this, LBJ keeps getting 0 ft or close to that, Miami could still win it all, come on, other teams are not NBDL teams, remember how close it was last year? Miami was one rebound away(Bosh) or one 3 pointer (Allen) away from losing to Spurs, how can you expect to win another title with such *** treatment.
the way to solve this is not take ****, not obey unconditionally to the league, someone, either from the team, or ordinary fans who love LBJ, should do sth.

[MisterHibachi]

Boycotting isn't gonna happen. Even if it's guaranteed to make a difference, I don't think I could stop watching NBA games, especially Heat games. Just impossible.

Spo just really disappointed me with that comment. I hope its just a comment to the media, and him and management are actually campaigning behind the scenes. I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Flash4thewin]

Boycotting isn't gonna happen. Even if it's guaranteed to make a difference, I don't think I could stop watching NBA games, especially Heat games. Just impossible.

Spo just really disappointed me with that comment. I hope its just a comment to the media, and him and management are actually campaigning behind the scenes. I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that Spo is capable of emotions of getting fired up to protect his players. When UD got hacked ages ago i remember Spo jumped to court to make sure UD was ok. Lebron gets his nose broken not even a tech, its like he doesnt care.

[heat4life]

I think we are overreacting a bit about Spo's actions (or lack thereof) during games. A coach doesn't need to be ejected or get a technical (which they preach the players not to get) for the sake of it. I am pretty sure the Heat is handling it behind the scenes without making any noise about it.

I do however, have an issue with Spo saying that it's not his job to campaign for calls. Even if true, I would've liked a more concerned comment in response to the hard plays that are allowed against LeBron. Riley did it before when it used to happened with Shaq.

With that being said, let's also admit that LeBron has been attacking the basket less since his 61 pts performance. You need to be more aggressive in order to get the calls. Not an excuse for the lack of calls but an observation.

[steluta]

We have a coach who is a pussy and has no voice

Have you heard of an organism named Dwane Casey?

[GameTime_3]

SpoBot isn't programed to question the officals. Everyone sees it and we all know LBJ sees it but our coach who is our leader won't stand up for his MVP? Hmmmm.....

So if it ins't Spo job to campgain who's is it? House keeping? Ball boy? Parking staff? Clearly he doesn't want the player or coaches talking about something like this...

[Smash3]

We need a coach who has had his balls dropped:

Phil Jackson: “Hey Dick, I didn’t know you were from Philadelphia?”

Dick Bavetta: “You know I was born in Brooklyn, Phil.”

Phil Jackson: “So why do you keep giving all the calls to the 76ers?”

"Leon Powe [got] more foul shots than our whole team does in 14 minutes of play. That's ridiculous. I've never seen a game like that in all these years I've coached in the Finals. Unbelievable."

"This was Munich in '72 revisited ... I don't know if I'll be able to watch the last 10 minutes of this game without calling Rod Thorn ... I call it eight men on defense. The refs were killing us."

Riley:

"That's just the way it is. The officials are a benevolent group of men. . . . I don't think Jordan deserved more than five free throws. We have to beat not only a great Bulls team, but the injustice that comes with facing a championship team."

Finally:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEWoX1iCySM[/youtube]

[heat4life]

^^^ Come on, this whole thing is being exaggerated. Even though I am not crazy about Spo's quote, he has stood up for his players before. You don't have to act like a rabid lunatic every time to show you got someone's back.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoITusXGkXs[/youtube]

[heatlespeatles]

Phil Jackson did this all the time, he doesn't have to act like a lunatic but he can make comments about the officiating (of course, he would get fined but he needs to take the hit)

Target: New York Knicks

Series: 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals

Context: "Force Basketball"-era Knicks outmuscled heavily favored Bulls for a 93-86 Game 4 victory that saw a chirpy Jackson get tossed at the end of the third quarter following his second technical foul.

Comment: "The rest of this series has to be hand-to-hand combat. They were shoving our dribblers with two hands. That's against the rules. That's football, not basketball. I just had to stand up for my guys. That's all this was about ... I think the league has to take a look at this kind of game. It's impossible to officiate. You can call a foul on every play."

Translation: "Dear NBA front office: outside of New York, do you think ugly, sweep-the-leg basketball is going to attract casual fans and television."

Result: Tweet! Knicks coach Pat Riley said he didn't think Jackson's comments had an effect, but the Game 5 numbers tell a different tale: six fouls for star New York center Patrick Ewing and a 38-22 Chicago free throw attempt edge in a 96-88 Bulls victory

Target: Kevin Durant

Series: 2010 Western Conference first round

Context: Pre-series.

Comment: "As far as the calls that he gets on the floor, I think a lot of the referees are treating [Durant] like a superstar; he gets to the line easy and often. He's got the ability to create fouls. That's a big part of scoring, to get to the foul line."

Translation: "Kevin Durant may be the Next Big Thing, but he hasn't done anything yet, which means you should look the other way when Ron Artest mugs him, the same way you let the Bad Boy Pistons mug Michael Jordan with near-impunity, even celebrating the fact on the cover of Sports Illustrated."

Result: Fail! Durant went to the foul line 10.3 times per game against the Lakers, roughly the same as his regular season average of 10.2 per game.

[dolphinatik]

Poster makes a good point. And there is obviously a running double standard of how games are officiated and something has to be done about it. Its affecting the games. Bron Bron would be way more dangerous and effective these last few games if he had the threat of getting to the line and putting other teams in foul trouble.

Spo can rest Lebron
Lebrons agent and fans can take to the media and complain
Put a public magnifying glass on it
Players and coaches cant be outspoken about it but as fans we can be with voice, banners etc.

[heatlespeatles]

Poster makes a good point. And there is obviously a running double standard of how games are officiated and something has to be done about it. Its affecting the games. Bron Bron would be way more dangerous and effective these last few games if he had the threat of getting to the line and putting other teams in foul trouble.

Spo can rest Lebron
Lebrons agent and fans can take to the media and complain
Put a public magnifying glass on it
Players and coaches cant be outspoken about it but as fans we can be with voice, banners etc.

but you don't wanna go OD to the point where Lebron seems soft and crying for calls.

Spo has to do it or Riley or somebody

[Zhuyankanqiu]

Poster makes a good point. And there is obviously a running double standard of how games are officiated and something has to be done about it. Its affecting the games. Bron Bron would be way more dangerous and effective these last few games if he had the threat of getting to the line and putting other teams in foul trouble.

Spo can rest Lebron
Lebrons agent and fans can take to the media and complain
Put a public magnifying glass on it
Players and coaches cant be outspoken about it but as fans we can be with voice, banners etc.

but you don't wanna go OD to the point where Lebron seems soft and crying for calls.

Spo has to do it or Riley or somebody

firstly, it's the fans taking to the media and complain, not Lebron.
secondly, it's not crying for calls, those calls are 100% legitimate and due, why LBJ has to be treated like this and everybody should act like he deserves it? LBJ is on the verge of being deprived of a MVP. no way Durant stood any chance without those unreasonable calls. look at what the refs did in today's game vs Rockets, he just delibrately jumped on to the defender while the defender simply stood there still, 2 free throws, and later, he elbowed the opponent, a foul on his opponent instead of a charge called on Durant.

[Zhuyankanqiu]

Plus, the fans are the customer, it's us fans who feed the officials. their whole revenues originate from fans. in china, if fans boycott, those **** in bureaucracy will have to think twice about what they are doing, it's not how it works in US? anyway, i don't know the ins and outs of American culture, can anyone please come up with a solution to this? no one wanna have a try at least? as a fan from the other end of this planet, i'm feeling so sad about what i've been witnessing, my idol is being treated like crap and deprived of awards that belongs to him and nobody is doing anything to support him. please don't say sth like 'heroes should resolve obstacles himself', he's not superman, MJ was not either, no one really is, there's no way you can win a MVP or a title when you get zero calls with hacking while your competitor gets free throws for holding the ball and jumping on opponent's body.

imo, LBJ and Heat supporters should boycott, or parade, for justice, or at least they should show up in the stadium holding the gigantic pictures with some slogans for fair play spirit.

[Zhuyankanqiu]

Poster makes a good point. And there is obviously a running double standard of how games are officiated and something has to be done about it. Its affecting the games. Bron Bron would be way more dangerous and effective these last few games if he had the threat of getting to the line and putting other teams in foul trouble.

Spo can rest Lebron
Lebrons agent and fans can take to the media and complain
Put a public magnifying glass on it
Players and coaches cant be outspoken about it but as fans we can be with voice, banners etc.

Lebron would put up statistics like 30pt, 7rb, 7ast, 60%fg this season easiy should he got the Durant treatment. and Heat would have won at least 5 more games up to this point in the season. I even think his fg% could even go higher than 60%, like 65% as shots called fouls are not counted as misses... that's how good LBJ really is.

[heatlespeatles]

Poster makes a good point. And there is obviously a running double standard of how games are officiated and something has to be done about it. Its affecting the games. Bron Bron would be way more dangerous and effective these last few games if he had the threat of getting to the line and putting other teams in foul trouble.

Spo can rest Lebron
Lebrons agent and fans can take to the media and complain
Put a public magnifying glass on it
Players and coaches cant be outspoken about it but as fans we can be with voice, banners etc.

but you don't wanna go OD to the point where Lebron seems soft and crying for calls.

Spo has to do it or Riley or somebody

firstly, it's the fans taking to the media and complain, not Lebron.
secondly, it's not crying for calls, those calls are 100% legitimate and due, why LBJ has to be treated like this and everybody should act like he deserves it? LBJ is on the verge of being deprived of a MVP. no way Durant stood any chance without those unreasonable calls. look at what the refs did in today's game vs Rockets, he just delibrately jumped on to the defender while the defender simply stood there still, 2 free throws, and later, he elbowed the opponent, a foul on his opponent instead of a charge called on Durant.

trust me i agree with you and I know Durant gets a lot of soft calls but i don't think Fans will protest unless its some way more series ish than Lebron not getting free throws.

The only real answer to this is Spo, Riley or Lebron himself commenting on the way he's being officiated, this is the only way. Or he will have to seriously spazz out in a game and act crazy when he doesn't get a call. Which he won't do because he has a brand to uphold, plus fans are pretty much helpless in this situation, only Knicks fans would protest to be honest lol