Basketball gamer

Putting this one out here to see how anyone else would have handled the story differently. Wrote a folo column the next day blasting the league for the debacle, just hoping that the game story wasn't too slanted. And I know how poor it is for me to lead with a quote, just thought it was the best way to show how angry everyone there was without making people go see my video of the incident.

"It's a disgrace to professional sports, especially to minor league basketball."
Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry head coach Micheal Ray Richardson said those words in a heated tirade after the Cavs lost Game 3 of the PBL Finals, 87-84, to the Rochester RazorSharks on Monday night in the Great Plains Coliseum.
The disgrace he saw was the fact the Cavalry shot just one free throw the second half. Only one, that coming from a defensive three-second violation in the third quarter.
Not once did the Cavs get a call after heading to the basket[LongDash] the bread and butter of the Richardson offense[LongDash] and that is what had the coach fuming.
"In basketball there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers, you don't cheat nobody in professional sports," Richardson said. "You cheat these kids who have worked hard all season long and you are going to let these referees have the outcome of a basketball game?"
The Cavalry outshot Rochester 41 percent to 38 percent, were only three rebounds behind their foes 50-47, had twice as many assists and almost half the turnovers then Rochester.
But it was the 37-17 foul differential in favor of the visiting team and the 43-14 free-throws attempted that led to Richardson chasing one official off the floor and into the concourse of the coliseum after the referee called the game with 0.06 left in the game after the fans became unruly.
Richardson had to be restrained by his players all the way back to the locker room.
The Cavs' players returned to the floor later and declared themselves the PBL champions to the loud applause of the fans.
The game became unhinged in the third quarter when after an unruly fan was ejected from the game, three fans threw small foam basketballs at the referees.
After one hit a ref, an announcement was made to not throw anything onto the floor.
After another basketball, the refs called a technical foul on the fans.
That just cranked up the intensity even more.
Going into the fourth quarter tied at 66, the Cavs held the lead six times, but each time the Cavs claimed lead the Sharks would take it back.
Then Eddie Smith stole the basketball.
Smith, who scored 18 points in the game for the Cavs, raced up the floor with the chance to take the lead for the Cavs. He went to the bucket.
The whistle blew.
A blocking foul was called that would have sent Smith to the line for two shots.
However, another ref came racing over and declared the ball out of bounds, negating the foul call and what would have been the Cavs second and third foul shots of the half.
"One referee called a block, the other referee called a loose ball," Richardson said. "He called a foul, how can you come in and overrule him. It's just too obvious."
That's the kind of night it was.
The Cavs held a lead as many as six points in the first half when the fouls were 19-11 in favor of Rochester and the foul shots were 25-13 in Rochester's favor.
"We shot one free throw the second half," Richardson said. "Two yesterday, one today. In the finals."
Shawn Daniels led the Cavs with 20 points and six rebounds. Gabe Freeman, who had 15 and 15 Sunday night, was held to eight points and eight rebounds, getting into foul trouble early in the third quarter.
Brandon Dean scored 13 and Elvin Mims had 10 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Cavs.
Rochester was led by Melvin Council with 16 points. He was 1 for 4 from the floor but was 14 for 15 from the free-throw line.
The Cavs now head into an offseason of uncertainty after watching another league all but dissolve around them.
One thing is for sure, if the Cavs return next season, it will not be in the PBL.
"This league is a joke," Richardson said.

 

The smart ass in me can't help but be amused that you have a quote from Micheal Ray Richardson talking about something being "a disgrace to professional sports" as your lede.

 

On a more serious note, the phrase "after watching another league all but dissolve around them" begs more information, unless it's a very well known fact about what has happened to the team in other leagues in the past.

Obviously you had a lot of information/silliness to cram in there. At times it felt like it was too much of a "X happened. And then Y happened. But then Z happened." flow, but I don't know exactly how I would have fixed it.

 

Also, doing some reading to refresh my memory, I saw that he was ejected from a playoff game last year for berating officials and that the game had to be called early. That probably could have been mentioned to give some more context .

 

The disgrace came from the same ref crew from Rochester travelling with the sharks. Foul shots were almost 3-1 in the playoffs, including 71 in game 3 of the semis. But your comment about disgraces is totally on point and the video is epic.