The Rockets hung on to beat the Cavs 105-103 in overtime, but not before this weird sequence that mostly likely prompted most viewers to ask what is happening, here? There are any number of calls that should have been made—offensive foul, defensive foul, travel, whatever—but nothing was called. James Harden and LeBron James danced entangled in each other's arms until the shot clock expired and Harden threw a desperation heave at the rim.
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LeBron went for the steal and Harden seized on that and locked his arm, continuing to drive and make it look like he was being fouled. That much is fairly obvious—maybe you want LeBron to get called for reaching in, which is fine—but once that wasn't called, this became the James Harden Show. He pretty clearly locked on to LeBron's arm and tried to get a foul called, but it seemed like the referee was sending a message with his inaction: knock it off, I'm not rewarding this nonsense one way or the other, keep playing.I mean, look at this:
The best part is how both guys are looking at the referee the whole time. No effort to play basketball or anything, just get the call.[ABC]