Michael Bourn moved to ninth spot in the lineup on Sunday
April 26, 2015Cavs sweep Celtics, but it costs them dearly – WFNY Podcast – 2015-04-26
April 26, 2015In their first playoff series in five years, the Cleveland Cavaliers emerged victorious, sweeping the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon in Boston by virtue of a 101-93 victory. However, to get that fourth win and punch their ticket to the East semifinals, they paid dearly. With the first quarter injury to Kevin Love as well as hard fouls from Kendrick Perkins and J.R.Smith, the Cavaliers could be down several bodies when they return to action approximately one week from now. The injuries, intensity, and officiating overshadowed anything else coming out of this game unfortunately. After some breathing exercises and a ice cold shower, I’m ready to walk through it all.
Cleveland Cavaliers 101
Boston Celtics 93
1 – That number represents one earth-shattering injury to Cavailers power forward Kevin Love. It occurred with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter as Love and Kelly Olynyk were engaged in fighting for a rebound at the Boston end. As the two battled, Olynyk latched onto Love’s left arm with both arms, bent over, and tugged violently as Love tried to pull away in the other direction. The result was Olynyk pulling Love’s arm out of its socket, and Love immediately sprinted to the locker room, ending his afternoon.
Let’s start with this: Kelly Olynyk made a dirty, unacceptable non-basketball play to injure Kevin Love and put the Cavaliers’ playoff destiny in jeopardy. No retaliation the Cavaliers could have levied in-game would have been swift or harsh enough. It’s one thing to have an injury occur in the normal course of the game, but this was almost 100% certainly not that. When asked after the game, Love believed without a doubt that it was intentional, and he added that the league better evaluate the play and levy punishment. If it were me, Olynyk would be taking the first 4-5 games of next season off without pay.
2 – The Cavaliers did attempt to levy their own brand of justice. Late in the first half, Kendrick Perkins entered the game and immediately blasted Jae Crowder out high with a vicious pick that included contact to Crowder’s chest and neck. Perkins was assessed a flagrant one and permitted to stay in the game, while both players received technical fouls. Early in the third quarter, after a shoving match under the basket with Crowder, J.R. Smith swung back and connected with Crowder in the head as the Boston forward fell backward and sprained his knee in the process, ending his day. Smith was given a flagrant two and ejected. Now, it’s quite possible that both could (and should?) be suspended for Game 1 of the next round. The team and Perkins both knew exactly what was going on when he entered the game, and they were ready to live with those consequences. However, with Smith, it’s an unfortunate situation where if the referees had called any of the three shoves Crowder gave Smith to the back, there would have been no swing back. Smith has been in this situation in the playoffs before, which will likely work against him.
3 – I’m known as a guy that often complains about officiating. I can live with that. However, in today’s game, where literally everyone I was talking with was outraged at the lack of control the officials had, it goes without saying. The trio of Leroy Richardson, Tony Brothers, and John Goble should be heavily criticized for their performance and lack of control in this game. It seems like every single game that Brothers has done this year for Cleveland has been an absolute train wreck. Not only did they fail to look at Olynyk’s foul and assess a flagrant one at a minimum, but they also failed to consistently call the game on either end. There were plenty of scraps underneath the hoop that weren’t whistled until they got to be over the top. In a 3-0 series, the trailing team has nothing to lose and the team ahead has everything to lose. The referees should see that and call the game with some level of control. Instead, the crew focused on more ticky-tack fouls, which caused the Cavs to get Irving, Thompson, and Mozgov all into foul trouble in the second half. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James couldn’t buy a call on their way to attacking the basket. Here’s hoping these three clowns are sitting at home for the rest of the summer. When you have the teams shoot a combined 80 free throws and the game is still out of control, you have an officiating problem.
90, 43, and 51 – The duo of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving may have struggled to get adequate foul calls, but they did lead the wine and gold through this to make sure they weren’t bringing the Celtics back wtih them to Cleveland. The two combined for nearly 90 minutes of game action (James – 46, Irving 43), and they took 43 of the team’s 78 shots. James shot 10-of-24 to get his 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. Irving scored 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and three assists. If Love misses the next series against the Bulls (most likely), I don’t see how James and Irving can come off the court together or any more than they did today. With no back to backs in the playoffs, it’s go time. We already knew that these two would be doing the heavy lifting to take the Cavaliers wherever they were going to, but without Love and Smith in a first game, they’ll need to be star-studded to beat the Bulls while missing 30 points per game out of a short rotation that has limited bench scoring.
124, 97, 39 – In terms of touches in this game, LeBron had 124, Kyrie had 97, and the next highest count with Love and Smith out of commission was Shumpert with 39. That shows you how two-person dependent this offense can quickly become.
18 in 27 – The rim protection numbers continue to be interesting. There were 18 points in the paint while Timofey Mozgov was on the floor in 27 minutes. Without him, it was 30 points in 21 minutes.
15, 10, 2, and 3 – Lost in the intensity of this game was just how brilliantly Iman Shumpert played. In 37 minutes, Shump scored 15 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, swiped two steals, and blocked three shots. Shumpert made a couple of well-contested mid-range jumpers, and he made all eight foul shots that he took. He also once again played a role in slowing down Isaiah Thomas, who had 21 points, but shot just 4-of-17 from the field and turned the ball over four times. Any way you slice it, Shumpert will be even more vital in the next round as the crunch time lineup could very well consist of Irving, Smith, Shumpert, James at the four, and Thompson.
21 and 11 – One Celtic that went out on a positive note was Jared Sullinger. The former Buckeye matched Thomas’s 21 points and added 11 rebounds as he was a large part of Boston’s 48 points in the paint. Sully took a beating on more than one play, including at the end of the half when he was standing on the tracks as the L-train came rolling through with James knocking him on his already-sore tailbone. Here’s hoping that Sullinger can curtail the weight problems that plagued him this year and return stronger next season. After Evan Turner’s strong Game 3, he made just 1-of-6 shots for two points.
10-for-56 – The two teams were working together in one aspect, chipping paint off the rims from long range. The Celtics were just 3-of-23 from three-point range, while the Cavs shot it at a 7-for-33 clip. The Cavaliers had just 13 assists, and their isolation ball ran rampant. James Jones missed all six threes that he took, and James was only 1-for-7. The Cavaliers did turn it over just eight times (with six of those belonging to James and the other two to Perkins).
We’ll have plenty more to discuss in the upcoming week as the Cavs await the Bulls (or Bucks, here’s hoping) in a series that will begin next weekend in all likelihood. For now, let’s all cross our fingers and hope for the best with Kevin Love. Thanks to a dirty play, our season may be riding on a MRI.
31 Comments
Saying minimum 2 weeks…
The only positive that comes to mind is the great effort from Shump, one he will need to provide another time or two if we are to get past the Bulls. Outside of that, I find no satisfaction in today’s win. With a healthy team, I was confident we could get through the East and have a legitimate chance against whomever survives out West. Minus Love for the semis (having suffered that injury, he’s dreaming if he thinks he’ll be good to go in under a week. Tomorrow morning is going to be hell for him, and it’ll be vulnerable to coming right back out until it heals properly, which it won’t in 1-2 weeks) and Smith for at least one game, taking 4 of 7 is going to be a tall order against the Bulls. I like our chances should we make it to the ECF, but I simply cannot imagine beating the Warriors or Spurs four times at less than full strength, and the Rockets would be a problem, too. If there’s any silver lining here, it’s that I feel much like I did about the Buckeyes chances when J.T. went down, and that turned out pretty well. Just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best possible MRI result tomorrow.
The refs were awful – you were kind not to mention Thomas’s interference with LeBron’s inbounds pass at the end of the game right in front of the official. That was the most outrageous among multiple outrages.
But the refs cannot be faulted for J.R.’s idiocy. That’s precisely the lack of basic impulse control that had him wrack up quick fouls a few games ago, and the exact same action – intentional blow to the head – that got him suspended and screwed his Knicks against the Celtics in the playoffs a few years ago. He’ll certainly be suspended, meaning the Cavs can’t use his outside shooting to replace Love’s and spread the floor for LeBron and Kyrie. Meaning they can easily blow the home court advantage they worked all season for. Forget about the “Poor Misunderstood Me” articles ghostwritten for J.R. The Cavs knew they were playing with a scud missile, one that will go off but in unpredictable directions. Thank goodness Shumpert stepped up to play a near perfect game and clean up some of J.R.’s mess. Better pray he can do it again next week.
It’s bad news. Shoulders are a biznatch to heal. Had a rotator tear that took 2 full years to rehab. I still get numbness from time to time.
Things going for Love are his age, overall conditioning, lack of previous shoulder injury, and it is not his shooting arm. But those are pretty thin comforts in physical NBA play.
Im pissed at olynyk. That is ridiculous play grabbing the dudes arm like that. What a flippin POS.
Season is done unless Lebron and Kyrie can kick it into an unreal gear.
Love was on top of his game all series and then some BS like that happens.
While I don’t necessarily disagree, I think you’re being a little harsh on JR. Did he mess up? Yes, and worse than any other mistake he’s made since becoming a Cav. Could it cost us? Yes, in the biggest way possible. But I’m not about to disown him, especially when we might need him the most. Maybe he didn’t write that article himself, who knows, but he has endeared himself enough in the short time he’s been here that he deserves to have us still in his corner after today. Maybe you’re reaction is emotion driven, maybe not. I’m upset too, probably just as much as you are, but it’s about to get harder for everyone, and we need to stick together through this. (cue inspirational music as I lead the team back out to battle)
NBA refs are easily the worst of any major sport and come playoffs they are even worse. Tony Brothers is horrible.
I don’t think JR meant to hit Crowder in the face but it was no accident it was Crowder on the receiving end not only JR but Perkins too. I loved Perkins you knew what that was about. It will be interesting to see how long JR is suspended Barkley was saying 10 games which I think is crazy because of the way it happened. Most likely 5 games I bet.
Olynk didn’t talk to the press afterwards which I believe could result in a fine no?
Initial reports are optimistic. Then Windhorst tweets that his sources in the Cavs say 2 weeks.
So … I’m assuming Love is fine?
5 games??? Im thinking 1. 2 max. He didnt look him in the eye and punch him.
I have been complaining to anyone that would listen since game 2. different players same old dirty play Celtics. I’m glad Perkins levelled him. Im all for hard play but if the refs had called it both ways the same this all could have been avoided. The refs should be suspended….secretly wonder if they had money on the spread and what the spread was lol
I was at the game…it was worse in person. The refs were absurd the whole game – after Love got hurt, and after Perkins rung Crowder’s bell, Kyrie committed a shooting foul, and because Thomas fell down, they reviewed it. When the Celtics committed hard fouls? Nothing.
Between the officials, Love’s injury, and having to deal with butt-hurt Celtics fans all day, I was not left with a happy feeling coming out of that game.
I’m hoping for 1-2, preparing for 3-4. He has somewhat of a history of this, which will unfortunately probably play into this. I also think they will ignore what led up to it – Crowder drilling elbows into his back. But I truly hope they ignore the end result (the severity of Crowder’s injury) of the play. I’m by no means condoning Smith and saying what he did was right, nor am I saying he’s is not absolutely majorly in the wrong, but I do think it was somewhat provoked (and that the provocation was ignored by the refs). Again, that’s not to say that he shouldn’t be punished, I’m just saying I don’t think the malicious intent was there…but maybe I’m just being a homer.
I’ve never been so depressed after a win, let alone a playoff win, let alone a playoff series clinching win. Why can’t we have nice things??? And the person I feel worst for is Love. Dude waits his whole career to make it into the playoffs, and then he literally has it ripped away from him.
This might be the “typical Cleveland sports fan” typing, but I am mentally preparing for the worst. I’m talking Love out longer than 2 weeks and JR suspended 5-6 games, leading to both of them missing the Bulls series, leading to our playoff exit. Go ahead and try to talk me off the ledge, tell me I need to stay positive or that I’m not a real fan, whatever. This just feels SO “Only In Cleveland.” And I’ll definitely still hope and follow and root and whatnot, but I just don’t know that my sports psyche can handle another crushing blow without some preparation. When the NFL Draft is the best thing we can talk about this week, you know we have problems.
Just heard Dave McMenamin say the refs actually had the game under control when the Crowder/JR thing happened. What game was he watching? He gave no mention to Crowder’s incessant bullying of JR before the swing, and also said nothing about the countless trips to the hoop by LeBron and Kyrie with no fouls. And ABC’s coverage was pro-Boston…nice graphic at the end about the championship tallies between the two cities. We swept the Celtics despite their cheap tactics and we are getting no respect in the national media. I hope the Cavs organization is taking notice of this and galvanizes even harder.
It depends if it is a tear or not. I tore my labrum and was rehabing a month later and playing softball 6 months after surgery. Somehow I am a lot better at basketball now. I used to be decent, but it must have lined things up perfectly. He may be able to play in a few weeks with meds. The over the head movements are going to be tough though.
I was hoping it would not turn out this way, but it was a physical series and Bos had nothing to lose. The cavs had everything to lose. The only way Bos had a chance was to play physical and dirty. Now we let them get the best of us and it hurts us next round with JR.
Who knows, he may be able to play if no tears. It would just hurt which prob could be minimized with meds.
The Bulls are going to be a tough opponent, but the Cavs still have the 2 best players in the series. If I were an unbiased bettor and the odds were even, I’d put a ton of money on the Cavs.
Yeah, I would be pretty surprised if it was more than 2. He wasn’t even looking. He just flailed his arm behind him and it happened to be where Crowder’s face was. (I’m not arguing he didn’t mean to hit him, mind you, but if he had slapped him 6 inches lower we’d be having a different conversation) It would be pretty unfair to base JR’s penalty on everything else that happened in the game.
If there was no damage to the labrum or rotator cuff from the separation I could believe it. It may have only been a partial separation. That doesn’t mean he’ll be at 100% though. I bet it’s more like he could return for the finals and won’t be the same on the boards. Strictly a floor spacer and shooter.
Silver lining from a pretty dreary forecast – we get to play the “nobody believes in us!” card.
Barkley is an idiot period. The Celtics were so dirty and i think the nba didn’t want a sweep
I disagree on the Celtics being dirty it’s the playoffs physicality is taken up a notch. If you thought the first round was bad you won’t want to watch round two.
I originally thought two myself until I saw the actual hit and then remembered JR’s reputation. The saving grace might be that Crowder was behind him. It’s kind of hard to land a punch to the face when the person is behind you and so much taller.
“Then Windhorst tweets that his sources in the Cavs say 2 weeks.”
add this to the “Kyrie is leaving Cleveland, Kyrie and LeBron do not want to play together, LeBron is returning to Miami, LeBron hasn’t spoken to Dan Gilbert, LeBron does not respect Coach Blatt” File for Windhorst.
And home court.
Just watched the post game w/ LeBron and Kyrie.
1. The question/answer at 4:05 is my favorite part. Some guy for their team.com asked an in depth question about Crowder and LeB gave it the exact nothing answer it deserved.
2. Does Kyrie have a “Friends” tattoo on his left forearm?
http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/postgame-lebron-james-april-26
I am heartbroken. No words. Should have sent Dashboard Confessional.