QUICKHIT – Cavs 101, Celtics 93
2015-04-26
The Cavs swept the Celtics, but it wasn’t a fun game to watch. Â Olynyk ripped Love’s arm out of the socket, J.R. Smith clocked Jae Crowder, and Shumpert looked a bit woozy after banging his head. Â Everyone in Cavs Nation is concerned about Kevin Love’s health and whether or not J.R. Smith will be suspended.
LeBron, Kyrie, and Shumpert really took the Cavs home in the 4th quarter, after they had abandoned all semblance of an offense in the 2nd half. Â The Cavs led by double-digits almost the entire game and seemed to wrap the game up with a few minutes remaining. Â But the circus would not end, and after Isaiah Thomas illegally grabbed LeBron during an inbounds pass, followed by grabbing Kyrie Irving’s jersey that was reviewed but called “out on the Cavs”. Â The whole thing was nauseating. Â Sound off on your least favorite moment of the game.
"Love grabbed Olynik's arm. Olynik tried to pull away." – Mike Tirico pic.twitter.com/7OHc8xNafK
— TCB (@TenCentBeers) April 26, 2015
Kevin Love: "I thought it was a bush-league play … I have no doubt in my mind that he did it on purpose"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 26, 2015
@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs went after NBA office Sunday about physical nature of final two games of series vs. Celtics. Safe to assume they weren’t real happy.
Its everywhere. Good for Carlisle. Didn’t watch the game but poor officiating is all over the place and I heard his last statements about the Rockets getting away with being dirty. Sounds like a Rockets team we know. Oh, hey, sounds like another team we know *cough* Celtics *cough*
Meant to include this:
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/592541296251789313/photo/1
Haha! Effective way to get a message across.
James Jones better be ready to step up. His 0-6 display won’t work against the Bulls.
I think the league should take serious action against Boston such as taking away draft picks or suspending KO for the entire next season. I’ve seen so many times this season that the cavs opponents hard foul LeBron or KI because they know they can’t beat them on talent. It’s a cheap shot and it takes the enjoyment out of the game. The worst part is when there are hard fouls against the cavs and no foul is called at all and then at the other end of the floor the cavs are called for a foul when there was… Read more »
While I think this is not even remotely a possibility, it brings in an interesting point. The NBA loses money when players like KLove go down. Nobody got excited for this season saying, “Can’t wait to watch the ‘Big Two’!” Having stars go down means people will drop from viewership. And if we know one thing, its that Silver will do whatever it takes to increase the number of people who flick the channel to an NBA game. Still think its grasping at straws, but HEY maybe we’ll get lucky and our players will be safe in future games.
I can’t see that working. Patrick Beverley almost ended Westbrook’s career with a dirty play and probably cost OKC at least one ring. The Rockets weren’t punished. The problem is that you are proposing a system that punishes teams for the consequences of a player’s action whether or not it is consistent with his provable intent. Olynyk is not a BJJ black belt, he doesn’t know how to separate people’s shoulders intentionally. The result was bad, sure. But you can’t prove he intended to jack up Love the way he did. If you want to argue “if a player acts… Read more »
I’m sure that nothing close to this will happen, but a short-term suspension (if that even happens) at the beginning of next season is no punishment at all for what happened. Now the Cavs are at a huge disadvantage for the next series while nothing happens to Boston. KO was no longer playing basketball when he pulled Love’s shoulder out of place. It looked more like a WWF match than a bball game at that point. It just isn’t fun to watch when the players fight/stop playing the game. I’d much rather see a well-played competitive game with the players… Read more »
Maybe Isaiah Thomas’ comments will spark the NBA to look into this play…
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2015/04/lebron_james_isaiah_thomas_cav.html#incart_river
According to Ike… “It worked.”
You know what didn’t work Ike? Choking your way through a 4-21 shooting display… No wonder he didn’t win 6th MOY…
What do we gain from NBA looking into this? 2 FTs when we play the Celtics next year?
No, hopefully we gain Adam Silver not allowing these particular refs to either work together or at all going forward in the playoffs…
Or to fire Tony Brothers!
And most importantly, we protect our players.
Woj – http://sports.yahoo.com/news/does–bush-league–play-complicate-love–celtics–mutual-free-agent-intrigue–023954774.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
Lolololol… bahahahahhaha…. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… seriously, all i can do is laugh.
“If Love left the Cavaliers, the Celtics had closed the gap on the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.”
League sources named Danny Ainge and his mom?
I can’t stand these knee-jerk crap-stirring articles citing “league sources” who of course are happy to say anything Woj wants to put in his article unless they are actually working for the Cavs. No wonder players hate the media.
There is one paragraph in that article that is true and its the one dealing with why the Cavs traded Wiggins for Love. Its because Love told the Cavs he would stay long-term. The media enjoys stirring the pot and making stuff up with “league sources.” But not one league source has answered this question: If Love wanted to be on a winning team and that’s why he forced a trade out of Minnesota, then why would he leave the Cavs–who have two of the 10 best players in the league–to go to the Lakers? He’s not leaving. Especially now… Read more »
Here’s how I look at it: Every championship team has one challenging series that tests them/ defines their playoff run (like the 2014 Spurs vs. Dallas 7 game first round series). If the Cavs are somehow able to will their way past the Bulls without KLove and missing JR a game or two, then I truly believe this Cavs team will win it all. It take some type of adversity like this to define a team. We have the best player on the planet, the best scoring point guard in the NBA, and guys who can step up because they’ve… Read more »
Good point . . . I am coming around a bit. I think they should beat the Hawks even without Love. It would be much harder, but it is not clear to me what much harder than not that hard (which was my original prognostication) looks like. Seems still quite doable. The Bulls I think are a less than 50/50 proposition if JR is suspended 2 games and Love is out of the series (I think it would be a huge risk to play him frankly, as I am sure Noah and Gibson will take every shot at that bum… Read more »
Okay… ENOUGH WITH FEELING SORRY!! Guys, we don’t know what the Love prognosis is yet. We don’t know if JR will be suspended or for how long. What we DO know is that we still have the best player in the game, along with another top 10 player, and a lot of guys who will fight like crazy and step up to do what it takes to try and get the job done. What’s done is DONE! The Cavs are onto the second round, while the Bulls are still working hard to get past Milwaukee. Take heart in what this… Read more »
In the spirit of optimism, am I crazy or is a 1 game suspension the typical penalty when you intentionally punch someone in the face? Is it possible JR doesn’t get suspended? He was already kicked out this game. Maybe that’s enough. Especially given how f’d we got on the Olynik deal.
I think JR gets 2 games, Love is out until the finals or the ECF (if we make it?), and Perkins gets 1 game.
Bulls go 7 in this series and KLove healthy by Bulls series. I think its always been pretty clear that we need to be rooting for the Bucks haha.
JR gets 2 games because he is a repeat offender.
Repeat offender? I don’t think that applies. It’s been two years since the elbow he gave Jason Terry…
Yeah IDK… I think best case scenario Love misses two weeks, JR and Perk are not suspended.
Does this repeat offender logic have any basis in the rules? Like, is there a formal mechanism to increase penalties for repeat offenders?
There is no formal mechanism but the NBA Constitution allows the Commissioner to determine suspensions based on a number of criteria including whether there is prior bad behavior. This is the third time JR hit someone and got ejected in the playoffs, he can’t say it doesn’t happen often because he doesn’t get into the playoffs that often.
Artest got 7 games for elbowing Harden in the head in 2012 playoffs and Stern specifically called him out for being a repeat offender, which is why he got such a long suspension. JR is not Artest, but the following regular season Thomas Robinson elbowed Jonas Jerebko (six degrees of Jerebko!), he got 2 games for a first offense, because the league wanted to send a message after the Artest incident “no more elbows”. I’m not saying it is likely (I don’t think it is) but the league could judge JR for his past actions and also to send a… Read more »
JR is gonna get it bad. That was a vicious hit. Crowders head snapped.
This is on the refs though. They let the Celtics play rough with Yolo horsecollars for 3 games. Playing with house money indeed.
McTen on ESPN agrees given JR’s past history he expects a 2-3 games suspension.
You can’t lavish praise on Pestak for conclusively proving this team is massively better when Love plays, and then say it doesn’t really matter because they still have Lebron and Kyrie. I mean, you can, but it matters.
I’m not saying it doesn’t matter… I’m saying I’m not ready to just give up on this team’s chances. Big difference…
And where exactly did I say it doesn’t matter? I believe the gist of my rant was that people are acting like all hope is lost.
Fair enough, you didn’t say it doesn’t matter. But isn’t there something like a 15-point RPM swing when Love doesn’t play? Unless you think that with Love they were going to win every game by 20, clearly the loss of Love is a huge blow to their chances from an analytical standpoint. I appreciate your efforts to stay positive, but people who are upset are upset for a good reason, not just because they are grumps who can’t see the bright side. Well, other people are anyway. I readily admit to being a grump who can’t see the bright side.
Will it be tougher? Yes. Will it be impossible? No. Do the analytics suggest they will struggle more without Love in the lineup? Yes. Can individual achievements overcome analytical evidence. Absolutely. I understand that people are upset. I was upset when it happened too. We can choose to wallow in despair and say “why do things like this always happen to us?” or we can choose to move past it and believe in the guys who still have to play the games. I believe in this team. I believe they can beat the Bulls without Kevin. I believe it will… Read more »
Yeah, I’m coming around. You’re right, it will be harder but it’s well within the realm of probability. It’s not like the Bulls are a historically great team or anything or even proven championship contenders.
Personally I think we can publicly wallow in despair and say “why do things like this always happen to us?” and privately believe in the guys who still have to play the games. Best of both worlds.
agree with you cols / IT DOES SUCK !!–especially if jr gets a 2 game suspension ( and those games are HOME GAMES ) so we might give up home ct advantage quickly —-expect the same ” physical ” type of play from the bulls also—–LIKE LEBRON SAID ” NO EXCUSES—NEXT MAN UP “——CAN YOU HEAR ME MIKE MILLER / JAMES JONES / MATRIX ?—– WE NEED YOU GUYS TO STEP UP BIG —-ALSO SHUMP TO PLAY LIKE HE DID TODAY —GREAT GAME YOUNG MAN
Funny thing is, however long Love is out for, the same voices that have ignored the Wisdom of Tom and criticized Love all season will turn around and talk about what a big loss he is. ABC had already flipped today before the game ended.
I am in a dark place. Can’t stop thinking of the Bulls game when Love was injured, we got annihilated on the boards, and run out of building. Love is so critical against Bulls because he draws Noah out of paint and defends the defensive glass. If he misses even 2 games of that series, it is devastating.
Plus JR potentially missing 2 games also.
This sucks. For the first time since they traded for Love I have to contemplate them not winning it all. And all because Boston decided to go out in disgrace instead of losing with dignity.
That being said, now that I have to think of the season ending with a loss to the Warriors instead of a title, this year has been amazing so far.
Just wanted to say it and enjoy the rest of the ride.
If it’s not that serious alive could be back for the finals. But I’m not sure they can get to the finals without Love?
Damn autocorrect meant to say “Love” not “alive”
Come on Cols… this team still has Leb and Kyrie. If you don’t stay positive, then all may be truly lost ;)
I am not trying to be negative, but Love is really really key to our system. Especially against the Bulls. What is our big man rotation? Perk can’t play more than 10-12 minutes. LBJ can play 4. Marion/Jones/Miller can play 4. But that is tough against Bulls when they rebound so well.
I think we could beat Bulls (maybe) without Love. But it will take KI and LBJ being electric on O. But that is much harder without Love’s spacing. It’s tough.
I don’t disagree that it will be tough to do… but it’s not impossible. Don’t make the Bulls out to be more than they are. TT and Shump are going to have to step up. LBJ and Kyrie will have to be stellar. But they can still do it.
Agree. They can do it. In addition to what you identify, they will need significant minutes (20+ gamed) from Marion/James/Perk or Miller in order to protect against fatigue. Today’s strategy of playing LBJ a ton was great in a closeout game with a week off ahead, but we can’t do that in a series.
Maybe Varejao can suit up? Or Z?
Olynyk isn’t quoted in any game coverage I’ve seen. Did he not talk to reporters after the game? That would be really weak.
He was too scared that Perk might punch-bomb his interview…
No. He bolted the building without an interview.
Big pussy.
When JR gets suspended we’ll be seeing 45 minutes per game from LBJ and Kyrie. Puts a sick feeling in the stomach. But we’re in for some epic performances.
Don’t forget Lebron has been down this road before in the playoffs plenty of times without Wade at times and Bosh was out for quite awhile with an abdominal sprain. Noah hasn’t been playing well. He’s been hurt. Butler is more dangerous than Rose. Rose hasn’t been very good at defense. Like the Kidd said, you gotta make your 3’s, free throws and get into the paint, make Noah work. His recipe the Bucks are still in it.
Yes, that’s the spirit Chris! We need some more positivity here!
Shots fired –
@Trags: My column on how Classless Cavs cheap shot their way to second round – WEEI | Mike Petraglia http://t.co/pn5HhZ3nZc
Celtics fans sure weren’t as quick to get up in arms when Kendrick Perkins was on THEIR team making those plays. And by the way, Boston fans showed a lot of class by booing a veteran player who helped bring them a championship in 2008. And while the author is falling all over himself to talk about how much ‘poise’ the Celtics showed in losing the game, he neglects to mention Isaiah Thomas’s out-of-bounds foul on Lebron and grabbing Kyrie’s jersey the next play. Olynyk tied up Love’s arm and pulled on it. I’m not saying that he intended to… Read more »
The league is going to pound the team that’s still playing. It’s time for Kyrie and LeBron to show the world just how dynamic a duo they really are.
Petraglia is a disgrace to journalism. He should find another line of work….
The Celtics never had a real chance in any of these games. The cavs are by far the superior team and this 4-0 sweep despite all of the cheap shots the Celtics took is all the proof needed. At the end of the day the winners keep on playing and the losers go home early.
Ok, stay with me on this thought. All great teams need to face adversity to reach their full potential. We go into the next series with K Love and (maybe JR). Maybe we drop a game or two, but in that time, Kyrie figures out how to take over a playoff game, Shump does what he did today and reminds us that he is starter quality and up for the big games, and JFJ locks in to start hitting threes with the added playing time. Lebron goes into psycho playoffs mode like he did back in the day. K Love… Read more »
I was thinking the same thing.
http://www.mmatycoon.com/fighterprofilepublic.php?FID=225949
If Olynyk himself created this, that’s hilarious, if somebody else did, that’s just kind of weird.
Anyone see what Drew Gooden is doing to the Raptors right now? He’s 3/4 from 3. DREW GOODEN.
https://twitter.com/FearTheSword/status/592491243067854848
Ah Drew Gooden, the captain of the “what, he’s still in the league??” All-Stars.
Gooden went entire seasons without making a 3.
Disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful how Boston played.
Finally. Geez Cols I put this up for you dogg
Ha. I think the >100 comments means it was a decent idea. I had a rough night and too many mimosas in the morning to be the Cols you know and love.
I think the >100 comments has a lot more to do with the events of the game…
AGREE WITH YOU EVIL ( AS USUAL ) WE JUST ALL NEEDED TO GET THE ” VENOM ” OUT OF OUR SYSTEM BEFORE WE MOVE ON——-THE WIZARDS ARE DESTROYING THE RAPTORS—-I MENTIONED A COUPLE DAYS AGO –I AM BETTING ON THE WIZARDS TO BEAT THE HAWKS
That’s if the Hawks don’t choke to the Nets beforehand.
It’s our fault. We acted like the previous games were ok, no extra physical play, Celtics took it as an insult and got all UFC Rousey on us.
Big Kev is gonna be alright, hoping Bucks win again to give us a chance of more rest and taking a bit more out of Chicago so a well rested short handed team won’t have much to fear from a tired Bull.
I don’t think it matters if the Bucks extend the series. Round 2 starts next weekend regardless of outcome. The only good thing is that it extra minutes the players have to play.
I don’t usually cheer for injury but I will throw a parade in my house the next time Olynyk gets injured. This sucks I think we’re toast.
I assume he’ll get injured next time he looks in a mirror by flying shards of glass.
Come on Arch… get a grip. It wasn’t LBJ… It wasn’t Kyrie. Yes, it will be tougher without Love, but not impossible. This is still an outstanding team.
What’s the rule on reviewing plays at the end of a game?
Why wasn’t IT’s foul on LBJ’s inbound pass reviewed?
Don’t know all the cases, but most fouls aren’t subject to review. They’ll check for clear path and flagrants, but I think that’s it. Sort of like the NFL, where penalties aren’t part of the review process.
@WindhorstESPN: Nothing will be known for sure until MRI but word within Cavs team tonight is Kevin Love likely out a minimum of 2 weeks.
One week until round 2. I don’t think we can beat Chicago without Love, if Bulls are healthy.
Disagree. It will be tougher, but Cavs can still beat Bulls even minus Love…
I think they can, but I’d give the advantage to the Bulls. Again that is if they are healthy.
Cavs can beat Bulls, but its going to be very hard, Bulls is a very deep team, 10 deep actually. With Kevin out, we basically have no bench, with only Iman a descent player left, delly is unreliable. Kyrie and Lebron need to be flawless to lead this team to the series win
I think they could still pull it out but not if JR is suspended multiple games (he is a repeat offender after all), so Cavs have to walk a fine line here when demanding harsh punishments for dirty play. It really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things whether Olynik is suspended 1 game, 10 games or goes to play in China but we need JR.
Yep, Olynyk is a scrub. A suspension of a game or two early next season does nothing to Bostons season. He needs to get the crap kicked out of him though.
I don’t want to play the blame game (who am I kidding, I love playing the blame game) but people on this board were screaming for Cavs (i.e. Perk) to put some Celtics on their asses pretty much since game 1. He can talk about how the refs let this thing get out of control, but he was too cautious himself. Rookie mistake from a veteran coach.
All due respect, Mac… I don’t think it would have mattered. Olynyk is a dirty player. It was only a matter of time before he did something like this regardless of how physical the Cavs decided to be…
Guys, let’s just calm down and take a breath. Cavs are gonna be okay. It may be a tougher road ahead, but they’re still a terrific team even if Love is out for an extended period.
have lost all respect for brad stevens and have developed more for BLATTT ——“OLLIENECK ” you just put to rest any rumor of LOVE ever going to boston —he wants NO PART OF YOUR BUSH LEAGUE TEAM / OPERATION –so yes for the next 5 yrs ( or more ) WE / ” THE FANS FROM THE LAND ” WILL TAKE GREAT JOY AND PRIDE IN SENDING YOU GUYS HOME EARLY EVERY SPRING YOU PIECE OF CRAP !!!
That’s actually an interesting consequence of all of this. I wanted Perk to so badly power bomb Olynyk.
This is surreal. First playoff birth since 2010. Cavs sweep the first round. And there’s nothing to celebrate.
Screw the Celtics – they played dirty in all 4 games. All they did was mess up the Cavs chances going forward.
As shown by the somber presser w/Lebron and Kyrie. Resolute, but they almost looked like they’d lost.
See Tom? The Celts are the worst. They are like the Aliens in the Alien movies, even at their weakest state they corrode you with their poison when you kill them.
Well if we can get to the finals without Love and it’s only 4 weeks. Then Love will be ready for the finals.
@KBergCBS: “A dislocated shoulder is usually a 4-8 week injury,” the Clippers player said after discussing Love injury with medical staff.
@KBergCBS: Nothing certain until MRI, but I spoke with a Clippers player who discussed Kevin Love’s injury with team trainers Sunday. Not good.
Though there was at least one CAVs beat writer in the post-game presser (I heard Joe Vardon ID himself), Isaiah Thomas was not asked about the violation he committed out of bounds against Lebron, then smirked over, after which he yanked on Kyrie’s jersey on the ensuing out-of-bounds play, a play that never should’ve happened!
Tony Brothers at his finest! He’s trying to cover the spread.
Kelly Olynyk, from this day on you shall be known as:
Ah, shoot.
Kelly Olynyk, from this day on you shall be known as: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NjRCs9UhL.jpg
Or you could call him Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs.
I’m hugely disappointed that the Cavs won, and we have to wait six months for the retribution that Olynyk surely deserves. Would have loved to see him on the court in Cleveland two days from now.
I’ve been surprised how few Celtics fans are lamenting Olynyk’s move. Flip the script and a scrub Cavs team makes the playoffs against a juggernaut and some bench dude like Earl Clark or Alonzo Gee comes in for a few minutes and knocks their third best player out with a dirty move. I’d like to think folks on CtB would own up.
Also, interesting how Olynyk only played 11 minutes. Seems he never came in after ripping at Kev’s arm. Why was that?
I’m sure your question was sarcastic but Stevens and Olynyk were both quite obviously scared of retaliation. Perk and Mozgov can be quite intimidating in terms of large, strong athletes with a bit of scrappyness to them (ok more than a bit for Perk)
He shoulda been benched outright. That would have restored my respect for Stevens. Smart coach, but not much class in this series.
Jalen Rose has no analytical prowess. Simply caters to listeners and what would perceivably make the most noise in the media.
Jeff Van Gundy is also often underwhelming. No wonder he seems perpetually in limbo as a commentator with no signs of a coaching job offer for such a long time.
Rose mostly sucks, but he’s politically savvy — hitched himself to Simmons’ star.
Also, how does one put a picture in a comment?
They may have been separated at birth, they probably have the same trainer, unfortunately they don’t play the same sport and that shit’s not okay in the NBA…
shoot here’s the link: https://twitter.com/HarlemCavalier/status/592421960103124992/photo/1
1. Celtics coach Brad Stevens is an excellent actor overall (is extremely mindful of the narrative he’s trying with every flick of the eyelashes to create) but tonight at the presser he had the smirk and body language of a major liar when it came to the Love injury. I doubt he put Kelly Olynck up to it, but he definitely wasn’t shocked or upset. Stevens is like the pastor’s kid who tortures cats. 2. Blatt’s response was excellent and this should indicate in part why the Cavs brought him in. He’s not going to lose his head, but he’s… Read more »
No way JR. gets two games. One game probably, but definitely not 2 games.
I’m fully expecting one game. Two would be severe. Its not like he could see Crowder’s head right there.
Maybe I’m wrong? People are thinking it will be multiple games.
I honestly think Crowder did a good bit of acting there. It seemed like the contact that was made was glancing. He certainly didn’t connect fully with his head. Not excusing the play but I’ve been punched in the face before and they certainly made more contact then JR did and it was on more than just a little piece of my jaw.
than***********************
Long time CtB lurker here, I have to disagree with you there. There is no way Crowder acted that out, in fact I’m positive he actually blacked out for a second because he collapsed on his leg and injured it in the process. If anyone here followed MMA years ago Mikro Crocop got knocked out by a headkick and fell the exact same way on his leg and suffered knee damage. It was unfortunately a legit reaction and pretty serious, but I don’t think JR was swinging for his head but rather in Crowder’s direction since he was getting pushed… Read more »
Have to agree with Alex. I’ve had concussions and given concussions before and it depends where you hit the person. The chin is the best to hit someone to knock them out. It doesn’t take much force to lay someone out if you get a direct blow to their chin. The hit will snap your head violently and force your brain to compress inside the skull, which essentially makes your brain shut off for a second or two. It’s like a breaker in a power outage. Its the body’s way of preserving itself. That hit and reaction looked legit. Did… Read more »
My favorite comment on the interwebs so far… re: Kelly Olynyk…
“That chick should be sent to the WNBA already…”
who knows if this is smoking gun for NBA officiating to change for the better but it has to or else stuff like this will happen again. Really Adam Silver is no different than Stern as commissioner, ignoring horrific officiating not caring about teams tanking and if your best move was getting rid of a racist owner who was like this for three decades thats nothing to brag about. really this whole series was embarrassment to NBA but honestly not expecting changes any time soon.
Everything i would say under here would be extremely profane, so I’ll just leave that to my Twitter (@Cleve_Cavs)
Wow you are really going off!!!!
Im going to enjoy the Cavs ending Boston’s playoff aspirations for the next 5 years
Uggh. Just horrible, I’ve had a sick feeling all afternoon. Hopefully KLove’s shoulder will respond and he’ll be back at some point.
So much for enjoying a big win.
“We pulled every dirty trick in the book! How did we fail?! Why analytics?! WHYYYYYY?!”
I hope this does not end up as another short phrase disaster for a Cleveland team….”the Jerk”
We gotta turn it around: “The Jerk” is the perfect nickname for Olynyk.
Something is cracking LBJ up during the post-game presser…
Prolly Phils comment above lol
Tirico’s description in the tweet Tom highlighted is laughable.
Tirico on the Zapruder film: “And then Kennedy hit his head on something.”
Genius Phil!
Well played sir
How could the bullet get away from Kennedy’s head? Clearly incidental contact.
I’m usually a Delly fan – but today he looked b-a-d
@brohrbach: Thomas responds to Love: “We can say the same thing. We’re all men here. We don’t need to cry … It is what it is. It’s playoff basketball”
“And trying to tear off your opponent’s limbs has been part of the playoffs for centuries. Y’all saw ‘Gladiator,’ right?”
Thomas should be crying about his shooting percentage
zing! Got ’em, Tom.
@ChrisBHaynes: LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both said Kelly Olynyk’s play on Kevin Love wasn’t a basketball play.
Olynyk might have gotten away with that play… but unfortunately for him… he has to look like this forever…
. . .the heretofore secret love child of John Rocker and Ted Cruz’s mother.
Isaiah Thomas must not recognize the difference between a basketball play and literally yanking a players arm out of its socket…
After watching the JR Smith play several times I’m sure he’s going to get at least a 1 game suspension. The real travesty is that that play will have next to no impact on the Celtics but Olynyk’s play on KLove could have drastic impact on the Cavs.
@joevardon: Blatt told me the way the series was officiated created the scenario we saw today, wit Love and Crowder getting hurt
He couldn’t be more right. They had no control of that series.
Refs missing the Thomas out of bounds shenanigans was unfathomably ridiculous.
They aren’t going to enjoy the league review of their performance.
Yeah they will. The league won’t do squat. Spineless twats.
Why wasn’t IT’s foul on LBJ’s inbound pass reviewed?
Oh completely ridiculous. How can you call yourself an NBA official and miss that BS. I’ve seen middle school refs do a better job than that. And, unfortunately, I’m not exaggerating…
The holding and grabbing of jerseys that was ignored on the next in-bounds was also very frustrating.
The officiating was by far the worst part of the game, and I couldn’t agree more with Blatt on how the officiating in the series led to the injuries.
Cols is a premadonna. Gets a thread made for him and doesn’t show.
Cols is getting blind drunk at the moment because of the Love injury…
I thought LBJ was so good he could beat the whole league by himself.
Was watching the next game after the Cavs. Van Gundy questioned Love’s assertion that it was intentional. That picture above is the smoking gun…he had a hold of Love’s arm with his left hand then jerked downward.
Easy for that judgmental fool to say that. IT Wasn’t HIs Damn Arm that was ripped from the socket. Kevin Love HAS EVERY RIGHT TO COMPLAIN! They have no right to judge. He’s the VICTIM here not Van Gundy, Doug Collins or Jalen Rose
KLove: “It was not a basketball play.” “The league will take a look at it and I expect a decision to be quick and just.”
@JasonLloydABJ: JR Smith says his hit on Crowder wasn’t intentional. He’s “nervous as hell” he could be suspended
The League has to look at the Olynyk move… just horrible…
He should be suspended but really who cares. It doesn’t really impact Boston one way or another. Olynyk is a dirty scrub and they can win with or without him. I hope someone takes out his knees.
I agree (again). And I go back to the analogy of the horse-collar tackle in the NFL. There was no rule against it until Roy Williams of Dallas started making it a regular thing — and the people he was tackling started breaking their legs.
The Boston radio announcers said Olynyk has done that arm-bar move before (unclear if it resulted in other injuries). If it’s not a one-off incident, the league has to put a stop to it by including it in the flagrant-foul rules.
@DaveChudowsky: Love said it hurt, popped back in place and he intends to play again in playoffs @wkyc
Interview with KLove on FSO now
Cols whining about the Warriors is hilarious to me. Guess I’ll need to carry the torch for blind homerism and heroic hubris. The Warriors would crumple under the Cavs’ physicality. This is the toughest Cleveland team since Jim Brown was feigning injuries then running it straight up the gut on the next play. Go Cavs!!
Was watching Cavs Post-game on Fox Sports Go but they just cut the feed whenever they want so I guess I will watch the interviews tomorrow…
Go to NBATV. They’ll have imterviews there.
@ChrisBHaynes: Kevin Love says his shoulder actually feels better now. Says he hopes he can play Game 1 of second round.
*Fingers crossed*
That would be a fantastic outcome all things considered!
Hope so, but I doubt it. It’ll be up to the doctors in all likelihood, anyway.
I hope they don’t let him play no matter how great it feels. Its very easy to re-dislocate your shoulder once its happened. Those ligaments don’t just snap back into place with the same strength. There is tissue damage, no matter what. Let it heal. they’ll have to get by chicago without him. If they can’t do that, they’re not good enough for the title anyway.
Blatt choosing his words very carefully. I wish he would speak his mind on the shittiness that was the officiating and dirty plays.
Yeah, I know it’s not my money, but I think he should take the fine and tell the world what happened. Absolutely horrible work by the officials.
Wheres Cols? Wasn’t this created for him?
I know. I was thinking this too but didn’t want him to think I was trolling.
@mcten: More Kevin Love: “That’s just not a basketball play … The league will take a look at it and it better be swift and just”
@ChrisBHaynes: Kevin Love says he dislocated his left shoulder and will be reevaluated in Cleveland. Says he thinks Kelly Olynyk did it on purpose.
No doubt it was intentional. Pinning Love’s arm, in and of itself, is kind of a natural reaction to that close-quarters combat. But the yank isn’t. That’s what caused the injury. It was just a pissy-boy response to not getting the ball.
I agree. As Dennis Manoloff has quickly written in the PD:
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With 5:22 left in the quarter, Boston forward Jae Crowder shot a 3-pointer from the right wing. As the ball neared the hoop, Love established textbook box-out position. Boston center Kelly Olynyk came from the weak side and, in clear view of a referee, plowed Love from behind enough to knock him off his base. No whistle. As the ball bounced off the rim to the left, Olynyk and Love became entangled — largely because of Olynyk. Love reached for the ball with his right hand but was unable to secure it because Olynyk encased his left arm. For a… Read more »
Brad Stevens is being the NBAs golden boy.
My least favorite moment: When they wouldn’t put Olynyk in the game at the same time as Perkins. Needed some retribution against that slimy nozzle.
Come on… that was an awesome display of cowardice… and made me laugh at these punk idiots…
Olynyk was like…
“Runaway! Runaway!!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAp9sFVdERQ