The Other Play That Cost The Cavaliers Game 1 Of The NBA Finals

CLEVELAND, OH — Lost in the chaos of the final minute of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, was a controversial call that Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue felt cost his team the game. "For LeBron to do what he did tonight and come up robbed...it's just not right," the coach said after the game.

The call came before George Hill missed his second free throw, which would have put the Cleveland Cavaliers ahead by one point in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and before JR Smith grabbed Hill's miss, lost track of the score, thought his team was ahead and dribbled out the clock. But had the call gone Cleveland's way, the Cavaliers might have been ahead at both points of the game.

With about 30 seconds left in the game, and Cleveland leading, the Golden State Warrior's second most important player, Kevin Durant, drove into the lane, crashed into LeBron James and was called for a charging foul. Cleveland ball.

Except, it wasn't.

The referees decided to review the play, saying they wanted to see if James had been outside of the restricted zone. The problem? He was clearly at least foot and half away from the semi-circle beneath the hoop. Lue felt he was further than that. "LeBron was clearly four feet out of the restricted area," Lue said at a post-game press conference.

"It doesn't make sense to go review something. The review is if he's close to the line on the charge. He wasn't close. So what are we reviewing?" Lue asked furiously. "Either call a blocking foul or call an offensive foul."

"It's never been done before, where you know he's outside of the restricted and then you go and overturn the call and say it's a block...it's never been done before. Ever. In the history of the game," Lue raged. "Then, tonight, at the Finals, on the biggest stage...my team played well, played their ass off. It ain't right."

If the referees don't make the controversial decision to reverse the charging call, then Cleveland holds onto the ball and the lead with about 30 seconds left in the game. It's likely that Hill and Smith play different roles in the waning moments of Game 1. But alas, those are merely hypotheticals now.

NBA players reacted with shock and awe at the moment. Former LeBron teammate Chris Bosh said league officials owe Cleveland an apology for the officiating over the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. Portland Trailblazers teammates CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard both echoed Lue's sentiments, saying they had never seen a charge call overturned in that fashion.

While Cleveland still had plenty of opportunities to win Game 1, the decision to make a controversial call in the final 30 seconds of the game — a call that benefited a heavily favored Warriors team — will not sit well with Cavaliers fans or basketball fans that don't live in California.

Let's hope Cleveland can recover mentally in time for Game 2.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images