Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt clarified that LeBron James didn’t necessarily veto his last-second decision in Game 4 of his team’s series with the Chicago Bulls; instead Blatt argued, LeBron “just felt strongly about what a better situation would be” prior to nailing the winning shot.
James says his coach is under a massive microscope since he’s dealing with the planet’s best and most famous player.
Blatt, a first-year NBA bench boss, nearly cost his team the game by attempting to call timeout when there were none left (his assistants almost tackled him as a preventative measure.)
Here's the video of Blatt trying to call a timeout with none left https://t.co/JpnhJXhsNx
— Guy Haberman (@GuyHaberman) May 10, 2015
Oh, and Blatt compared himself to a fighter pilot.
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
Blatt didn’t help himself Monday when he said the “150 to 200 critical decisions” made by a basketball coach during the course of a game “I think is paralleled only by a fighter pilot.” With that he entered the danger zone, both professionally and with Photoshop-proficient fans who turned Twitter into the Cleveland Air Show.
When it came to the timeout, he fell on his sword again, just as he had Sunday. With the game tied at 84, associate head coach Tyronn Lue saved him from a technical foul, which would have resulted in a Bulls’ free throw and possession with nine seconds left, by grabbing Blatt before officials could see his signal. The Cavs used three timeouts in a span of three seconds, two on an inbounds play, which apparently usurped the team’s protocol on how to keep track. […] “Usually don’t lose track of ’em,” Blatt said. “Matter of fact, that’s never happened before in my time as a coach. Good thing I had great guys behind me to bail me out and then a great player to bail us all out with a terrific shot.”
“He didn’t veto the play. He just felt strongly about what a better situation would be,” Blatt said of James. “As it turned out that was the right thing. It could have been the right thing the other way, too.” […] James said Monday what he did was no different than “a great quarterback calling an audible.” He acknowledged the scrutiny that comes with anyone around him, the same scrutiny that plagued Kevin Love before his postseason-ending shoulder surgery. “He’s catching heat because he’s coaching me. That’s all,” James said. “Whoever is associated with me catches heat.”
