Will NBA Referee Ed Malloy Be Suspended For LeBron James Assaulting Him At The End of Last Night's Game?
So everyone who watched the game or highlights of the Sixers-Cavs last night will be talking about LeBron’s sick behind-the-back move between two defenders and Tristan Thompson’s leg. One of the crazier, Houdini-esque plays I’ve seen in my life no doubt about it. At the end of the game when the Sixers pulled away, Dario Saric went up for an easy two handed dunk with 15 seconds left and the game all but over. The obvious unwritten code here is to dribble out the clock and end the game if you’re the Sixers. For whatever reason Saric dunked the ball and that upset LeBron, Jordan Clarkson, and everyone else on the Cavs as if Saric committed a murder on the court. Sure was it a dick move? Definitely, but Joel Embiid immediately apologizes for Saric, acknowledging his teammates mistake. It’s not like the Sixers were dancing on the Cavs’ graves after the dunk. But no, LeBron couldn’t stand it and had to get into Saric’s face causing a whole scene, because his team just lost by double digits at home and he was frustrated.
During this scuffle head referee Ed Malloy jumped in to aid as a peace maker because his job is to control chaos on the court like this. What was LeBron’s reaction to this?
Basically assaulting poor Ed. You dare get in Lebron’s way as he confronts another player? You say you’re an official, well that’s Lebron James. In case you didn’t know, Lebron is above the officials in this game called basketball. In his mind he should be at the foul line on every play and you do your jobs horribly every day. You are all on Tobeys to his Michael Scott. So what will be the verdict here?
If this was Draymond Green he would already be suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. In this situation? I’d say Ed Malloy probably gets fired because Lebron said so. Seriously though, can you imagine any other player in the league grabbing a referee by the arm like that and accosting them during a game? The NBA would’ve announced the suspension live on SportsCenter last night. Instead, it’s not even discussed and we just keep seeing the same behind the back play 60 times even though UVA just won a basketball game in regulation down 4 with 5 seconds left. Nah, let’s show the same regular season play in a game Lebron lost by 10. No wait, let’s show a special top 10 of Lebrons all-time plays. Got it.