Should LeBron James have been kicked out of his first NBA basketball game for arguing a no-call late in the third quarter against the Heat? Chris Webber, Kevin McHale and Isiah Thomas thought a warning might have been better. Despite referee Kane Fitzgerald’s explanation: “Immediately after the no-call, he turned and threw an air punch directly at me and then he aggressively charged at me and then he used vulgarity in my ear a few times,” Fitzgerald said. Thomas relied on the NBA-as-entertainment argument for leaving LeBron in, since people “paid to see him.” (Webber, Thomas and McHale ignored the rotten lesson letting LeBron threaten a ref teaches kids who watch it, but maybe that’s not important anymore given the ticket prices.)
Anyway, Thomas thought the coolest thing about LeBron’s ejection was that the Cavs were up nearly 30 at the time — a moment when other teams might not have grown so irate at the non-call. But Thomas pointed out that the Cavs are “playing for every point (right now).” Thomas said “that’s what you want to see. You want to see that kill mentality. And right now they’re on straight kill mode.” That’s when you know your “team is on the right path.”