AUBURN HILLS, MICH.: LeBron James delivered another subtle message to the league Sunday that he believes he is treated unfairly on foul calls. Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, who has remained relatively quiet on the physicality of this series, seemed to agree.
Pistons center Andre Drummond was not punished by the league for his elbow to James’ head early in Game 3. It was the latest in a long line of shots James has taken in this series that border on dirty play.
“Initially I was surprised,” Drummond wasn’t punished, James said Sunday. “But then I thought who he did it to and I wasn’t surprised.”
James has long believed he doesn’t get enough fouls called. He has been to the free-throw line 12 times in this series entering Sunday’s potential Game 4 closeout.
“He’s the Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal] of guards and forwards,” Lue said. “He’s so strong and so physical when he goes to the basket guys are bouncing off of him. Those are still fouls, but he doesn’t get that call because he’s so big and so strong and so physical.”
Lue never challenged officials as a player and has kept that same mindset as a coach. He has said on more than one occasion he never received a technical in 11 years as a player for arguing with officials, although he did get one during the regular season as head coach.
“It’s their job to clean it up. It’s not my job to complain about the situation at hand,” Lue said. “They understand it, they see it and they’re going to do the job the best they can. I don’t want to be the guy that’s complaining to the officials or complaining to the media — that’s not what I do.”
One Cavs player said teams like the Pistons and the Boston Celtics last year don’t understand the right way to play physical basketball in the postseason. Because they’re young teams going through a playoff series for the first time, they believe they have to be more physical without understanding the right way to do it.
The result is unnecessary hits such as the elbows James has taken in this series and Kevin Love’s shoulder dislocation last year.
“He gets beat up the most in the league,” Tristan Thompson said of James. “He takes a lot of hits night in and night out, especially in this series, and he keeps pushing and he stays mature. As our leader, that’s what you need from him — stay mature and just keep playing and let the refs handle what they need to do. If he’s doing that, then we have no excuse.”
The Cavs and Pistons aren’t the only ones complaining about physical play in the postseason. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle has been critical of Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant throughout their Western Conference series for what he deemed were unnecessary hits, then Durant was given a flagrant-2 and fined $15,000 for a hit on Mavericks guard Justin Anderson in their game Saturday night.
Southpaw
Thompson said part of the scouting report in this series has been making Drummond shoot left-handed hook shots.
“In the scouting report he’s way more efficient with his right-hand hooks,” Thompson said. “Whoever’s been guarding him has been forcing him to take those left-hand hooks. He’s knocked down a couple. We’re going to live with it. If we follow the scouting report and he makes a shot that he’s not as good at, we’ve got to live with it. That’s part of basketball.”
No decision
James denied he has made a decision on the 2016 Rio Olympics, refuting a tweet by longtime NBA writer Peter Vecsey that both James and Carmelo Anthony have committed to playing for Team USA this summer.
Asked if he has made a decision yet, James said simply, “I have not.” He usually doesn’t commit until after the NBA season is over.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.