Victor Oladipo: LeBron James' Late-Game Block Should Have Been Goaltending
LeBron James gave the Cleveland Cavaliers a 98-95 Game 5 victory in the first round of the NBA playoffs with a buzzer-beating three-pointer Wednesday, but if not for a block right before, there would have been a lot more pressure on that final shot.
And the block doesn't come without controversy.
In the final seconds of a tie game at Quicken Loans Arena, James switched onto Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo to create a one-on-one showdown. Oladipo beat his defender with a nice move on his way to the rim, but James didn't give up on the play and came up with another patented chase-down block:
The replay appears to show the ball hit the backboard before the block, but the refs did not call it. That set up James' game-winning shot.
Oladipo said after the game, via Vigilant Sports' Scott Agness, that he believed goaltending should have been called: "It was a goaltend. It's hard to even speak on it, it just sucks. It really sucks that they missed that but we can't do anything about that now."
Pacers teammate Lance Stephenson agreed, via Fox Sports Indiana:
As for James, he had some fun with the answer, via Sam Amico:
Whether or not it was actually goaltending, it likely brought back a rough memory for Andre Iguodala and Golden State Warriors fans.
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