Who is closest to a championship?
April 14, 2008Not again.
April 14, 2008A few weeks back Scott was invited to debate whether Cleveland or Philadelphia was the more tortured sports town. I suppose after tonight Philly fans will demand a recount.
Maybe this is one of those wins. Maybe this is one of the defining moments in a season. Perhaps the Cavaliers will look back on this finish as the moment they turned a corner. I’m pretty sure critics will say they just got a lucky.
Make no mistake, had the Cavs lost this one it wouldn’t have been the fault of the officials. Cleveland surrendered a 12 point 4th quarter lead, and found themselves down by one when Zydrunas Ilgauskas took a LeBron James pass deep in the lane and laid it in for a Cavalier lead. A Philly basket later, Devin Brown hit a running floater over Dalembert with only 15 seconds left to regain the 1 point lead. The Cavs played solid defense, but Philly’s Louis Williams made a desperate shot off a deflected pass and the Cavs were down 1 again.
The sequence that followed will be debated all day tomorrow. (Longer if you’re a Philly fan I’m sure.) After the foul to give, LeBron took the ball at the top of the lane and drove with 3 seconds left. He was bumped from the right, and probably fouled on his left arm as well, but he pushed up a shot that was blocked to the left of the hoop where Devin Brown was breaking to the basket. Brown collected the ball and went up for a shot as Samuel Dalembert put his shoulder in Devin’s chest, and Andre Iguodala hit his shooting arm as Devin out the ball up towards the basket. The ball fell harmlessly to the ground, confetti flew, and the 76ers ran off the court celebrating.
Problem was the game wasn’t over. A foul was called, not on LeBron’s drive, but on Dalembert against Devin Brown. The refs went to the replay to make sure that the foul occurred before the shot, which the replay confirmed. The officials called Sixers back on the floor, the confetti cleared and Brown to the free throw stripe. Cleveland had been 11 of 19 before Brown calmly stepped up and knocked both shots through the net. Cleveland 91, Philadelphia 90. The Sixers had.2 left on the clock, but couldn’t get the shot off in time. Ballgame.
LeBron had 27 points in 42 minutes, Zydrunas 22 points on 10 of 18 shooting. Devin Brown was benched in favor of Sasha Pavlovic (who injured his ankle and had to be helped from the court) but came off the bench strong with 13 points. The Sixers made 11 of 17 shots in the fourth quarter scoring 31 points, but came up short when Brown’s second free throw went through the net.
Sixers forward Iguodala was upset afterwards–
“You feel like you just got seriously slapped in the face,” Sixers forward Andre Iguodala said. ” It was like we had the ‘W’ and it was marked off.”
The Cavaliers clinched the 4th spot with the win, and guaranteed themselves home court advantage against the Wizards, who beat Indiana.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWIBeqYfahY[/youtube]
(Thanks to Odenized for the video.)
(Edit: Also, for Philly’s take on the matter, head over to The 700 Level. But be nice, we like those guys. After all, we have a lot more in common that either of us would care to share…)
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17 Comments
“A defining moment?”
This game was a complete and utter joke of a rip off. Watch the replay, the arm goes up when the clock is red.
You got away with one. I hope the Wizards sweep your ass.
It’s always funny how sports makes people see what they want to see.
Good morning, Philly fans!
lebron lost control and waltzed into the lane…three gigantic steps.
4 Fouls on the play. Choose one.
Wow… What a finish.
I agree Rick, this may be the *Spark* this team needed heading into the playoff run.
Bring on the Wizards!
I’d love to believe there’s a spark left to be had for the Cavs, at least enough to get past the Grand Wizards. Otherwise, I have to hear it for the next year.
Swept by the Wizards…I highly doubt it. Philly getting swpet by the Pistons, I can see that happening
I dont understand what you mean Greg. If you watch the replay, Samuel Dalembert runs into Devin Brown (in the act of shooting) with at least .3 seconds left. It doesn’t matter if Devin got the shot off before the buzzer, he was still fouled way before the clock went red. The Cavs were in the bonus so they would get the free throws anyway.
I’m very glad the foul was called (obviously because I’m a Cavs fan). But alot of times at the end of a game these situations occur where the refs swallow their whistles and one team gets screwed. Looks like we finally got one to go our way.
I can’t wait until Lebron ditches that *** town.
Go Sox.
*Note to our new Philly fans, we try to be family friendly around here….thanks- rick
Nice, Chris. Gotta love those classy Philly fans.
Before this becomes some sort of flame session…let’s try to keep our heads. Was there a walk on LeBron? I suppose there is if you aren’t going to count the body check as a foul. Was Devin Brown fouled by Dalembert? Are you kidding? The man puts his shoulder into Devin’s midsection. If he had wrapped him up it would have been a perfect fireman’s carry. He was also fouled by Iguodala on the arm. Not only did the foul occur before the buzzer, the shot clearly left his hand before the buzzer.
How is this turning a corner? They played 10 crappy min of basketball to let a team who had given up back in the game before scraping out a win. Turning the corner would be slamming the door in the 4th quarter. However, I do hope you’re correct.
#1 Greg, you wonderful genius, the call is made based on when the foul occurs, not when the arm goes up. The foul clearly ocurred before the buzzer.
And you may HOPE the Wiz sweep the Cavs, but I KNOW the Pistons will sweep your sorry 76ers.
There were a lot of no-calls on that last possession, but you can’t review that like in the NFL. The question is did a whistle blow before time ran out. My opinion is no, probably because I am a Sixers fan, but you gotta admit, there certainly wasn’t incontrovertible evidence that a whistle did blow before time ran out. To actually bring the players out of the locker room? If a whistle had blown, the refs should have been running around yelling to keep the players on the court. They did a horrible job.
I’ll even give you that Rob, the ref that blew the whistle and called a foul should have been more demonstrative and certain about the call…
I think the ref that blew the whistle made it known that he whistled a foul. You can actually here the whistle on the TV replay before the buzzer goes off. Give credit to the Philly PR people who instantly started up the music and confetti after the buzzer to try and signal that the game was over.
P.S. – it is pretty gutsy to Cleveland a **** town when you are comparing it to Philly.
Thank God the foul wasn’t on LeBron or else we would never hear the end of it.