Come On Ref, Let the Boys Play!

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! Hope you enjoy your day off, while remembering why we have this holiday!

On his quest for his first NBA championship of his career, LeBron James finds himself down 2 games to 1 to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Nicknamed "King James," he is going to need some assistance if he wants to reach the NBA finals.

In Cleveland's 99-89 loss to Orlando Sunday night, the Cavaliers shot just 26-36 from the free throw line, just 74 percent. The Magic on the other hand, 39-51, for 76 percent. The officials have done their best to keep the game under control, and when 87 free throws are attempted in a game, it is easy to say that they have accomplished that. But when will NBA officials just let the boys play? LeBron himself shot 24 free throws, 18 of his 41 points came from the line. And Orlando's star player, Dwight Howard, was 14-19 at the line.

In a game where three players fouled out (Howard being one of them), and all three being centers, has it become impossible to play strong defense without fouling? Cleveland Coach Mike Brown said that the defensive strategy on Howard was to just foul him every time he went up for a dunk because the foul was going to be called anyway. Every Cleveland starter had at least 3 fouls in the game.

This needs to be stopped, 87 free throws in a 48 minute game is too many. Hopefully game 4 (Tuesday night in Orlando) will flow better and have less than 58 fouls called, well make that 60, if you include the technical fouls called on Howard and Cleveland's Delonte West. The game time for game three was 2 hours, 57 minutes. How can it take nearly three hours to play a 48 minute game?

The NBA Playoffs: Where an amazing amount of fouls happen.