Stan Van Gundy says NBA refs have Lebron James bias, backpedals

The opening game of round one in the Eastern Conference playoffs was controversial to say the least. The game was much closer than many expected, with the Cleveland Cavaliers pulling out a five point win against the Detroit Pistons. Reggie Jackson’s statements about wanting to fight Goliath started to seem more and more like the Pistons could become a David and win as the game went on. Jackson had a good performance, as did the Pistons as a whole. However, the team’s play isn’t what has fans talking.

During an interview at the end of the first quarter about the Pistons’ composure, coach Stan Van Gundy expressed frustration toward the officials toward what he felt were missed calls in Lebron James’ favor. “A couple calls have upset our guys, they’ve got to understand, Lebron’s Lebron. They’re not going to call offensive fouls on him. He gets to do whatever he wants. They’ve got to understand that.” Van Gundy stated.

After the game though, Van Gundy backpedaled and said the officiating was not the reason his team lost. “Look, I thought it evened out really well,” Van Gundy said. “But early on, I thought there were two pretty obvious offensive fouls down there on him. But it’s two calls in an entire game after that. Look, the refereeing had nothing to do with tonight. They did a good job. It went both ways. I thought they did a really good job. It was decided by the players on the floor, as it should be.”. Van Gundy also said he thought things could have been done differently. He included wishing he had handled some things differently. When asked about regrets, Van Gundy refused to go into them as they were “game plan things”.

So what do you think, do NBA refs have a bias towards LeBron James, even a small one?