National Basketball Association

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue: LeBron 'never gets calls'

Published Jun. 11, 2016 4:27 a.m. ET

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There were a lot of hot takes on LeBron James being thrown around Friday night after Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Steph Curry has surpassed LeBron as the best player.

LeBron's window for winning a championship in Cleveland has closed.

Then there was this one on LeBron, courtesy of his coach.

"He never gets calls," Tyronn Lue said after the Cavs' 108-97 loss, in which LeBron went to the line just four times (making two).

"I mean, he attacks. Outside of Russell Westbrook, he's one of the guys that attacks the paint every single play. And he doesn't get a fair whistle all the time because of his strength and because of his power and guys bounce off of him. But those are still fouls and we weren't able to get them. But we've got to play through officiating."

"Never" definitely is an exaggeration. No one in this Finals series shoots more free throws than LeBron, who's averaging 5.4 per game in the playoffs (ranking 15th) and averaged 6.5 during the regular season (tied for 14th). But both numbers are low for him, and he's gotten to the line only 17 times in the first four games of the Finals.

However, if he was a little short on calls in Game 4, it might've been his own fault.

LeBron shared Lue's displeasure with the refs.

"It's been like that all year for the most part," James said. "I'm not quite sure what I can do personally to get to the free-throw line, but I've got to continue to be aggressive for our team. I'm getting hit, but the refs are not seeing it that way, on my drives ...

"You know, it's tough playing 46 minutes and only going to the line four times, as much as I attack the rim. So it's just a tough situation for our team."

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