Overturned Charge - Warriors vs Cavs
 

Did anyone catch the overturned charge call on Durant in last nights game? Any idea why they changed the call?

Because they deemed that James was moving into Durant. I think it's awful that they can review a judgement call like that, but I don't watch much NBA, and that's the way they have the rules set up.

Rule Is essentially the same as college. He got there squared up 2 feet down, then his trailing foot continued a bit and he actually overshot. I still think it was something that shouldn't have been overturned on the play, and it was clear he was at least a foot outside the area anyway, so they shouldn't have gone to monitor. Once you get there squared up, you don't have to be a statue.

It was a blarge. Watch the replays -- the T clearly has a block signal started, which is why the L hesitated.

I think they got it right on replay. Shrug.

Under NBA rules inside 2 mins the refs can trigger replay if there is doubt about the play, specifically regarding the Restricted Area. In replay the refs can determine 1) wether the feet were inside/outside the RA, 2) whether the defender had LGP, and 3) if any other uncalled illegal acts took place (leading elbow PC foul for example). This allows them to essentially re-referee the play on video.

The Trail official did make a half-assed blocking signal, but a blarge does not trigger a review in and of itself. They must go to review the RA.

In the last two minutes of the 4th quarter and OT, replay opens up to allow reviewing disputed calls, such as unclear out-of-bounds plays, and block-charge plays under dispute. In that case, the decision was legitimate under NBA rules.

NFHS interpretation
 

I know NFHS is different than NBA, but I want to know what people would call if this was a high school game. Based on NFHS rules, I believe he had two feet down and was in LGP before the offensive player left his feet. My only question is did the offensive player move to avoid the contact and the defender slide in after establishing LGP?

I personally have a charge.

I have a charge. he was there in plenty of time, and the trailing foot moved a bit, and if anything it was moving away from where the offensive contact was coming from.

more importantly, under the rules, they don't go to the monitor under there is reasonable doubt as to whether the defender was outside the arc. There was absolutely no question about that from the lead's perspective. he was a foot and a half or more outside it. hence no monitor. and that is clearly the lead's call.

if they want to go with a blarge, i suppose it then would have been a jump ball between KD and Lebron?

if a defender gets there, is about to get steamrolled, and drifts a few inches AWAY from the side the contact is coming from , that's a charge.

I thought it was clearly a block. James is moving forward and to the left at the time of contact. Just my opinion.

As for going to replay. Part of me thinks that when the 3 came together, they had a blarge, and knowing that the restricted arc can be reviewed, and also knowing that once they look at the arc, they can then look at the legal guarding position, they decided to review it to get it right. Had there not been a blarge, they may not have reviewed it at all.

"What you can't have is a referee who is bull-headed when all of that is taking place, and we find out later that there was a rule in place to help us get the play correct, but we ended up missing it because we were not applying the rule," McCutchen said.

Exactly. Anyone who thinks this is not the right way to handle this is stuck in the past. If there's a way to review and get this right, they need to reach out and take that path. They did. This is why these guys work the finals.

This to me was a charge all the way. The lead had the best look and called it accordingly. Also the left foot of LBJ was planted before Durant started his motion. I do not see how this was not a charge as called on the floor.

Sorry I think this is also not the way to handle the situation under the rules. You make a call and then go and look at a replay to now debating a close call. It is one thing to do this on an out of bounds play, but not a play like this IMO. It just opens up too many cans of worms and assumptions.

Peace

I believe that OKREF has it correct.

A player does not need to be stationary to draw a charge. They can be moving in any direction, except one, which is towards the offensive player.

In this case, Lebron starts at the elbow of the RA, as he slides to his left he also moves forward. He ends up in front of the RA by a good foot or two. The step with his left foot before he plants and takes the hit actually has his heel on the line. This indicates that he was moving towards the shooter therefor he does not have legal guarding position.

It was also called a block.

1. We have a blarge
2. Who's primary on this play
3. Does the NBA consider this a judgement call? You either have LGP or you don't, maybe that's why it's correctable after the review is triggered for the arc

This was a block under any ruleset IMO. Quite frankly, I don’t even think it’s close. That being said, I’m not sure what Brothers was doing because that was Mauer’s decision all day, no?

Kudos to the crew for staying within the rules, using their tools, and getting it right.

Just goes to show you that no matter how high up you go, or how thoroughly you pregame double whistles and block/charge plays, blarges still happen. They happen much more often in high school and college even with the requirement to show a fist on all fouls.