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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Erik García Gundersen

LeBron James says refs ‘never want to be wrong’ on replay reviews

A moment of candidness from LeBron James was caught on microphones during the closing moments of Wednesday night’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans, focusing on a process that is becoming more mainstreamed in the National Basketball Association these days: replay reviews.

Reviews have been around for a few years now and this season is the first year in which coaches are allowed to challenge a play they’d like to dispute. That situation presented itself on Wednesday when Frank Vogel challenged a foul call on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope when he was guarding Brandon Ingram in the closing moments of the win.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who was in New Orleans, described the situation.

James approached ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy courtside to share how incredulous he was with the review process.

“That’s a bad call,” James said, which was picked up on the game broadcast. “When the ref makes that call, he don’t never want to be wrong. They’re never going to overturn it. Ever. Ever.”

James is always vocal but he’s also smart about his money, usually managing to toe the line between fair questions and personal gripes. But the moment of candidness was a rare moment caught on the microphone of LeBron not being so measured in the heat of competition.

Although the NBA might take issue with the comments after the weekend, they shouldn’t because even though James might be a little unfair to the refs given the personal stake in every game, his honesty in the moment is a welcome moment fans should hear more often.

 

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