Shortly before the half, Lebron had leaked to cherry pick an easy basket, but Jimmy Butler was in position to strip the ball loose which was recovered by the Bulls.
 |
| "Hey Lebron! How's my dick taste?" |
As he pulled down Butler (in front of the NBA referee, mind you, without a foul call), Butler's feet ended up around Lebron's head area. Lebron continued to engage Butler, including swinging his own legs up toward Butler's head. Butler, without taking any swings or kicks at Lebron, made it clear that he wasn't going to give Lebron a single inch, and he emerged from the scrum smiling a confident smile.
Take a look at footage of the play and judge for yourself:
That play had to fire up Jimmy Butler. After going 0 for 5 with no points in the first half, he finished up with 16 pts, 11 reb, 4 stl, and 1 blk.
Meanwhile, Lebron, who had to have been frustrated and now embarassed by this unsportsmanlike play, went on to finish with only 17 pts on 8 of 23 shooting (38.2%), even below his season average against the Bulls (19.0 on 42.9% shooting).
Jimmy Butler added to his resume as the Lebron-stopper; while being defended by Butler, Lebron made only 2 field goals and had 3 turnovers.
The Bulls came back from an 11 point 4th quarter deficit to force OT. Then, led by Joakim Noah (20pts, 12reb, 7ast, 5blk), Chicago dominated Miami on the boards and suffocated the Heat offense, which only managed 2 meaningless points on a too little, to late layup by Lebron.
The Chicago Bulls sent the cHeat to their third straight loss in a week that began with Lebron piling on during a blowout of the lowly Bobcats with 61 points. Since then, Lebron has managed 58 points combined in the cHeat's three straight losses.
Beware of the Lebron Dick-Riders
Today, all the Lebron Dick-riders were all up in arms to say that Jimmy Butler kicked Lebron in the face, using very creative stills from the game footage to illustrate their opinionated articles.
We all know that at full speed, that was not a kick, and Lebron flinches like he's been shot in the head at any contact because he's used to getting something for all his acting.
But on the other hand, with video review, the NBA needs to start holding the players that instigate this type of contact accountable because players can and do get hurt from all the tangling of limbs that some players, particularly Miami Heat players, have initiated.
Case in point, a play from the 2011 NBA Playoffs that changed the entire dynamics of the Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics series:
Enough with the acting. Enough with double technicals. Make these situations reviewable by replay and make the penalty meaningful.
Instigators should be ejected from the game with potential for suspension pending the result of the play. This kind of unsportsmanlike play is unacceptable in a professional sports league.
Lebron did not injure Jimmy Butler on that play, but he could have the way Rondo was injured. But the referees should have viewed a replay of the contact. They should have ejected Lebron from the game. And if there was an injury, as there was with Rajon Rondo, there should be the potential to suspend the involved player for the rest of the series.
As it stands, the David Stern-led NBA basically awarded the Miami Heat for causing this injury. Hopefully, new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is aware of this and many other flaws in NBA officiating and is actively working to rid his league of unsportsmanlike play such as this.
If you think Lebron's and the Miami Heat's unsportsmanlike contact should be banned from the NBA, please comment and share this article on your Facebook.
