Referees Explain LeBron James Charge Reversal, Tristan Thompson Flagrant

Referee Ken Mauer confirmed his crew overturned a critical offensive foul call against Kevin Durant to a block against LeBron James with 36.4 seconds remaining in regulation because James "was not in legal guarding position." 

If the foul—which was credited to James upon review—had been upheld, the Cavaliers would have regained possession leading by two. 

"The reason for the trigger is that we had doubt as to whether or not James was in the restricted area," Mauer told pool reporter Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. "When over at the table, we then are allowed to determine whether or not he was in legal guarding position. It was determined he was out of the restricted area but was not in legal guarding position prior to Durant's separate shooting motion. So we had to change it to a blocking foul." 

Needless to say, James wasn't thrilled with that sequence of events.  

"I thought I read that play just as well as I read any play in my career, defensively," he said. "I seen the drive, I was outside the charge line, I stepped in, took the contact—it's a huge play." 

Elsewhere, official Tony Brothers offered an explanation regarding Tristan Thompson's ejection with 2.6 seconds remaining in overtime after he was assessed a flagrant-2 for elbowing Shaun Livingston. 

"From the angle that I had on the floor, as he is coming toward [Livingston], his elbow is up high and it appears he hits him in the head when he is coming toward him," Brothers said. "So that's why I called the foul and ejected him."