Cavs' Coach Mike Brown Incorrectly Blame Refs for Loss to the Pacers

The end to Tuesday night's Cavs - Pacers game was a bit unusual, so allow me to reset the situation. The Pacers were up 95-93 with just 0.8 seconds remaining, when the Cavs attempted an alley-oop lob to Lebron James. Somehow, the referees whistled Danny Granger for a foul, which allowed LeBron to tie the game at the free throw line. Bad call, but whatever. Next possession -- with just 0.4 on the clock now -- the Pacers run a similar play, and get the foul call, which allows Granger to win the game by hiting one of two at the foul line. Here's the video (beginning at the 1:31 mark); we'll discuss after the jump.

The first call there on Granger was absolutely horrible. There's no way an official should make that call in that situation, period. Both players were going for the ball, Granger's body made contact with LeBron's, and Granger tipped the ball away. That should have been a no-call, and it should have been game over in favor of the Pacers.

However ...

If you're going to call the first play a foul, then the second one where the Pacers brilliantly ran the exact same play deserves to be called a foul as well. Both were bad calls, but hey, at least this officiating crew was consistent. The first call was bad, but the second call was the correct one in the context of the situation.

Incredibly, Cavaliers' head coach Mike Brown didn't see it that way. Somehow, he thought that his team was the one that got screwed, even though they were the beneficiaries of the bad officiating less than half a second before the final call was made, and he ripped the referees after the game.

"That last call, on the run, is the worst call that I have ever been a part of," Brown said. "I cannot imagine another worse call than that. It was an awful call and for him to take away a basketball game from a team with .4 seconds on the clock is irresponsible."

Mike Brown is officially insane. Are you kidding me? The Cavs got bailed out by the officials on the exact same play that allowed LeBron to tie the game on the previous possession. How in the world could Brown go off like that about the game's final possession, considering it went his team's way on an identical play just 0.4 seconds before the one he's so hell bent on criticizing?

Look, I get that one-point losses on the road to an inferior team are frustrating. But blaming an officiating crew that tried to hand your team the game on a similar play the possession before is myopic at best, and just plain ignorant at worst.

If the Cavaliers can't beat the Pacers on a night when LeBron goes for 47 points and the refs give them a gift of a call to allow them to tie it with under a second left on the clock, then honestly, they don't deserve to win the game. And no amount of post-game posturing by their head coach is going to change that.