Over the course of his tenure as Cleveland Cavaliers' head coach, Tyronn Lue has been careful not to publicly criticize officials.
That changed on Thursday night, when questionable call reversal went against his team and played a crucial role in the Cavs' 124-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals.
With 36.4 seconds remaining and Cleveland holding onto a 2-point lead, Warriors forward Kevin Durant drove the lane, where he was met by LeBron James. Although it was initially ruled a charge on Durant, the refs went to the monitor to check whether or not James was outside the restricted area -- which he clearly was.
But because there were fewer than two minutes remaining, the refs were also able to review whether or not James was in legal guarding position, which they ruled he wasn't, as they reversed the call to a block and awarded Durant two free throws.
One J.R. Smith blunder and an overtime period later and the Cavs found themselves trailing the Warriors 0-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Asked about the reversed call in question in his postgame press conference, Lue didn't hold back.
"I guess the rule is you can review -you can review the call if it's inside or outside the restricted, is the rule that I know. And, I mean, they called a charge, right? And LeBron was clearly four feet outside the restricted area. So it doesn't make sense to go review something if -- the review is if he's on the line or if he's close to the charge circle, that's the review. He wasn't close," Lue said.
"So what are we reviewing? Either call a blocking foul or call an offensive foul. For our team to come out and play their hearts out and compete the way we did, man, I mean, it's bad. It's never been done before where you know he's outside the restricted, and then you go there and overturn the call and say it's a block. It's never been done, ever, in the history of the game. And then tonight in The Finals on the biggest stage, when our team played well, played our a-- off, man, it ain't right. It ain't right.:
Asked about James' 51-point performance, Lue praised his superstar player, before turning back to one of the key plays that cost the Cavs Game 1.
"To do what he did tonight and come out robbed, it's just not right," Lue said.
Game 2 of the 2018 NBA Finals will take place in Oakland on Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.