LeBron James Criticizes NBA Ref After Cavaliers' 26-Point Collapse vs. Hawks

LeBron James was critical of the officiating Sunday after the Cleveland Cavaliers blew a 26-point lead in the fourth quarter and ultimately lost to the Atlanta Hawks in overtime, 126-125, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

James was particularly incensed when he wasn't granted a timeout after inbounding the ball to Kyrie Irving and attempting to call timeout as the Hawks moved to trap the point guard:

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I'm sitting right next to the ref, and the explanation he gave me, I never heard in my 14-year career. Never. He told me that I'm not allowed to call timeout because he didn't know who had possession of the ball. And I was the one who entered the ball to Kyrie. And as soon as I seen Millsap go trap Kyrie in the short corner, I looked at him and called timeout twice -- at least twice -- and he wasn't even paying me no attention. And that's when the jump ball happened. I said, "Why?" He said, "I can't call timeout because I don't know who has possession of the ball. I don't know what's going on. I don't know the tie up." I said, "That doesn't make any sense because we have the ball. I entered the ball to Kyrie so you shouldn't even be worried about the tie up or not, I'm calling it as soon as I saw Kyrie is getting tied up in the corner."

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You can see his full comments below:

Head coach Tyronn Lue and Irving chose diplomacy, however. Lue declined to comment on the officiating at all, while Irving chose his bank account over venting his frustrations after the game.

"How much is the fine for talking about the refs?" Irving asked, per Vardon. "It's like 50 (thousand dollars), 25 (thousand)? Not worth it. Not worth it, so, sorry. I had some good conversation with the refs. Just a few plays that didn't go our way."

You can see Irving's full comments below: 

While the loss didn't allow the Boston Celtics to leapfrog the Cavs for the top seed in the East, it did draw the teams even with two games remaining. The Cavs hold the tiebreaker after going 3-1 against the Celtics in the regular season, but two straight losses to the Hawks have the Cavaliers reeling, with the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors remaining on the schedule. 

There's no question that James was frustrated with the officiating on Sunday night. But it's fair to question if he's simply frustrated in general after losing consecutive games to the Hawks and giving the Celtics life in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

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