Breaking News: Kevin Love Ruled Out for EC Semi-Finals; J.R. Smith Suspended Two Games; Kendrick Perkins Fined

[UPDATED WITH J.R. SMITH RESPONSE TO SUSPENSION]

On the heels of Kevin Love being forced to leave in the first quarter of the Cavs win over the Celtics yesterday in Game 4 with a dislocated left shoulder, word came this afternoon that the Cavs have ruled Love out for their upcoming Eastern Conference Semi-Final Series (which would begin either Saturday or next Monday depending on the outcome of tonight’s game between the Bulls and Bucks).

Love suffered the injury after Kelly Olynyk was called for a loose-ball foul for pulling and yanking down on Love’s left arm a little more than halfway into the first quarter on Sunday. Love called Olynyk’s actions “bush-league” after the game and said he thought it was intentional. Olynyk received a one-game suspension for his actions, as announced by the NBA this afternoon, which he will be forced to serve at the beginning of next season.

[Olynyk himself finally spoke to the media (Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe), as reported earlier today by Fox Sports Ohio, to talk about the incident and his trepidation about visiting Cleveland in the future.]

After X-rays and an MRI on Love’s shoulder today revealed the extent of the damage, the team officially declared him out for the next round (against either the Chicago Bulls or Milwaukee Bucks — the Bulls currently lead the series 3-1). Love’s injury is being officially referred to as “an acute anterior inferior glenohumeral dislocation with the corresponding ligament/labrum tearing and humeral head bone bruising.”

According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, “the Cavs said Love is currently undergoing training room treatments while the team seeks additional opinions on his injury. A more concrete timeline as to when Love could return following the second round, should Cleveland advance, will be determined over the next several days, according to the team.”

Separately, the Cavs J.R. Smith has also been suspended without pay by the NBA for two games as a result of his Flagrant-2 foul on Jae Crowder in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. Smith was ejected following the play during which he swung his arm behind him with a closed fist and made contact with Crowder’s face. Crowder crumpled to the court and had to be helped off of the court after spraining his knee during the fall.

Smith will be required to serve his suspension during Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

[UPDATE: Here was J.R.’s response to his suspension on Instagram.]

Kendrick Perkins was not suspended by the NBA for his role in a separate incident with Crowder, however, he was fined $15,000 for his actions by the League.

With both Smith and Love (40% of their starting rotation) out for the first two games of the next round, the Cavs will have to be creative with their starting line-up. While they could insert Tristan Thompson into Love’s spot, given the floor spacing issues of having both him and Timofey Mozgov on the floor together, odds are that David Blatt may instead choose to shift LeBron James to PF to replace Love, with either James Jones or Shawn Marion filling the SF position. Either Iman Shumpert or Matthew Dellavedova will likely replace Smith in the backcourt for Games 1 and 2.

Either way, the Cavs will need to rely heavily on their bench with extended minutes for Shumpert, Marion, Dellavedova, Jones and Miller, and may have to work in both Perkins and Brendan Haywood into their big man rotation.