ESPN-“Just trying to defend without fouling,” said James, who briefly locked his hands behind his body on a Rockets possession in the third quarter. “That’s a point of emphasis any time you play Houston. They got guys that can sell calls really good — Chris [Paul] and James [Harden] — so you got to try to keep your hands out of the cookie jar.” …
“You can’t touch them,” Ball said, expressing extra indignation at the two times Josh Hart was called for a foul while Harden was attempting a 3-pointer. “I was just trying not to foul today,” he continued. “They were calling it tight today, so I was just trying to get my hands out of there. … It’s very tough staying in front of [Harden] with your hands like that.” ---------- And things go from bad to worse for the Houston Rockets. Never mind handing the Lakers a loss last night, because - as is always the case with everything LeBron James does - you have to look long term at the ramifications of the best player on the planet playing defense with his hands locked behind his back. Regardless of what they had to say after, the Lakers - likely at Coach James guidance - were proving a point as much as they were trying to limit the Rockets from free points. In a league where superstar calls have led to the epidemic of flailing around like the touch of a finger is enough to turn the most finely-tuned of professional athletes into half-in-the-bag high schoolers, the most transformative of superstar had to be the one to call for change if it were to be made. Now, I have no idea if the officials are going to immediately be less gracious in gifting obvious embellishment, but I do know their discussions about doing just that, and in turn forcing the Houston Rockets to actually earn a higher percentage of their buckets, just became a little more concrete. The message of "we are literally better off handicapping ourselves on defense" packs a much heavier punch when a player who is as calculated as he is transcendently talented is the messenger, and the team who it would effect the most is already on the ropes in trying to fight their way back into contention. Of course, LeBron is about the furthest thing from innocent when it comes to going to egregiously immature lengths to draw a foul, but he's also 'The King' of aggressive passiveness. I'll be damned if he didn't showcase the latter by incriminating the hell out of Chris Paul (who needs all the help he can get this season) and James Harden by calling for his team to citizen's arrest themselves on defense.
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