Video: Watch WFNY and WKYC talk Cavs-Celtics Game 4
April 27, 2015JR Smith suspended two games for hitting the Celtics Jae Crowder in the head
April 27, 2015Well, the Kevin Love injury news has gotten worse. The Cleveland Cavaliers announced on Monday that Kevin Love will miss the entire upcoming Eastern Conference Semifinal playoff series with a dislocated shoulder. After X-rays and a MRI on Monday, the Cavaliers medical staff diagnosed Love’s injury as “an acute anterior inferior glenohumeral dislocation with the corresponding ligament/labrum tearing and humeral head bone bruising.” This injury, big words and all, will force Love to miss the whole Semifinal series. Love is undergoing treatment and an update to his status will be determined over the next couple days.
Kevin Love update from the Cavs. pic.twitter.com/HfdUmJYAXR
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) April 27, 2015
As you already know, Kevin Love was injured in the series finale versus the Boston Celtics on Sunday. In the first quarter of the game, Love went for a rebound that was going towards the sideline. While fighting to get the rebound, his arm was engulfed by the Celtics Kelly Olynyk, who was trying to hold him from getting to the ball. Love’s shoulder was thrusted out of place after Olynyk seemingly tugged his arm the opposite direction of where he was going. After the game, Love accused Olynyk of doing it with intent, while LeBron James noted that the play was “not a basketball play.”
It looks like the NBA agreed with the Cavalierss that the play by Olynyk that injured Love was a dirty non-basketball play. On Monday, the NBA suspended Kelly Olynyk for one game for this play. Obviously this does not give any comfort to Cavs fans, but at least the NBA did punish him for this horrible play.
NBA suspends Celtics F Kelly Olynyk one game for incident involving Kevin Love injury.
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) April 27, 2015
This injury is a huge loss to the Cavaliers and greatly affects the way they will gameplan for their next series. It is likely that the Cavs will faceoff against the Chicago Bulls in the next round. Not having Love will greatly affect the Cavs ability to spread the floor against the big Chicago Bulls team. We shall see how David Blatt and the team decides to go forward without their talented forward.
40 Comments
The curse of Jordan Zirm
https://waitingfornextyear.com/2015/04/kevin-love-nba-playoffs-cavs/
More like the Curse of Chief Wahoo. We need to destroy the heart of the beast and banish that smiling red-face into the depths of hell.
I believe that Shump can step up. Unfortunately, this likely means more James Jones playing stretch four. I can already see him missing threes and getting abused in the post.
Let’s be honest, this pretty much eliminates any legitimate hopes the Cavs had for winning the NBA Title đ
(Possibly irrationally) extrapolating from that, Kelly Olynyk might have single-handedly changed the future of the Cavs franchise.
Love injured –> Cavs eliminated much sooner from playoffs than they otherwise would have been –> Love is more encouraged to leave –> Cavs left stumped after trading away the number one overall pick for what has amounted to nothing.
“We shall see how David Blatt and the team decides to go forward without their talented forward.”
What are you talking about? Kendrick Perkins hasn’t been suspended.
One game? Wow.
Come on Milwaukee.
So much for best-case scenario. At full strength, I’d have had us winning a grind of a series with the Bulls in 6. Without him (and without Smith for the first two), MAYBE we sneak through in 7. I heard plenty of folks saying we still have the two best players in the series, and that may be true (though a healthy Rose–and he’s looked it–most certainly has an argument against Kyrie), but in my mind, Chicago has the team advantage, having been together longer and endured the adversity of being with Rose, Butler (who has been terrific), and Noah at various points, which has clearly helped them figure themselves out. If any coach can scheme to reduce the effectiveness of the Big Two, it’s Thibs. Shump will need to be on top of his game, James Jones will have to finally earn a paycheck, and maybe the Fathead of Mike Miller that Blatt keeps on the bench can be enchanted by a spell which brings him to life for a game or two, but our shallow roster could be our downfall once the fouls start piling up. The good news is that MAYBE Love is available for what should be an easier matchup in the ECF, but we have to get there first. But hey, at least Olynyk gets a one game suspension. Next season.
This all just feels so very Cleveland right now.
http://c2.thejournal.ie/media/2014/07/facepalm-gifs-1.gif
He was referring to 1 week from now when Perkins will be suspended exactly one game for ripping Derrick Rose’s arm from its socket
What?
Maybe that was said in jest, maybe it’s a serious thought, but either way it brings up Wahoo and, well…
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5qctq7ESn1r5i504.gif
Hahaha. Right on. Either way. He’s still smiling.
Suspending Olynyk one game feels like a cop out by the league, like they’re doing it just to say they did something. They basically said “yeah it was a dirty play, but not TOO dirty,” and there shouldn’t be levels of dirtiness. I couldn’t care less, really, about how long some scrub gets benched to start a season. He’s already left his mark on the rest of these playoffs.
Chicago is also struggling with Milwaukee.
Atlanta is struggling with Brooklyn.
I am not seeing a real reason to be overly fearful in the Eastern Conference unless you think Washington will finally end their LeBron curse. Perhaps, this is all a setup just to add to it.
The Cavs would have won Game 4 by 25 if James Jones could hit the broad side of a barn. I’m not looking forward to that.
Worth it.
Gasol and Noah are both destroying the Bulls from the inside right now.
Atlanta lacks the superstar to simply take over a game and say “No, we will not lose”.
Last night was huge….for the Cavs.
1 playoff game is not equal to 1 reg season game either.
He is not coming back in the playoff in my opinion, unless they shoot him up and he plays through discomfort which may be doable since it is non shooting
This was my initial thought when I heard the news of Love being out for the whole Bulls series. I figure they wouldn’t rule him out for an entire series unless the injury seems bad.
Right – why rule him out definitely for an entire series? Why not just make him day-to-day? Where’s the benefit in ruling him out definitely for the whole series?
Don’t know if you are agreeing or not, but assuming you’re agreeing, I think that’s even more reason he should have gotten more. He affected multiple playoff games and his punishment is one meaningless regular season game.
3 thoughts on this:
1) It feels bleak because we just lost a key player at a position where we are thin, but I don’t think it’s quite that bad and I don’t think the Cavs believe that either. LeBron will play almost exclusively at the 4 in this series, and I’m good with that. He won his championships with the Heat playing mostly 4.
2) This is why the Cavs picked up Mike Miller and Shawn Marion. To provide depth, experience, and punch in the playoffs. Forget how Mike Miller shot in the first half of the season… the playoffs are a different beast. Shawn Marion is still a fantastic defender when he wants to be.
3) The Bulls are injured too. They are all healthy on the stat sheet, but they’re not healthy in reality. Noah and Hinrich are playing through injuries. Thibs is riding his starters HARD right now. Butler is playing almost the full game. Rose played 42 minutes last night.
They heard you!
Nah, I don’t agree with that. The Cavs can get through the East without Kevin Love. It’s a tougher journey, but the Bulls are currently struggling with the lowly Bucks and the Hawks are struggling with the crappy Nets. Cleveland has the two best players in any matchup against the remaining Eastern Conference teams. If the Cavs make it to the Finals and Love is still out, that’s where I become worried. I still think they would have a chance to win, but a much lower chance.
It’s not that I necessarily fear any of the East teams any more now than I did before, although I have gained a lot of respect for the Wizards (painful as that is to type) after the way they dispatched a talented Toronto squad with relative ease. My issue is more that I think the Cavs minus Love and Swish are a good deal less formidable, and no longer match up as well with an established team like the Bulls. And yes, Chicago is struggling with the Bucks, but I don’t think that’s an indicator of a down Chicago so much as it is of a quickly-maturing and physically impressive Milwaukee squad that would be a tough matchup for most any team. Our situation just places greater burden on our Big Two, and I’m not sure they can shoulder it (no pun intended) all the way into June.
It eliminates the constant questioning of “Will he play or not” and the associated silliness and speculation. “Hey media: he’s out for this series. Next question.” This team has enough to focus on as it is, might as well take away (or at least reduce) that issue.
Toronto was soooooooooo overrrated.
Just read Zach Lowe on how the Wiz broke down Toronto’s “defense.” It was like shooting fish in a barrel. They had an easy division, and they peaked in November. I’m still not THAT impressed with Washington.
However, I have been on Milwaukee all year. I really like that team.
Marion KILLED the Cavs earlier in the season but after his layoff, he came back with a little spark. I’d be intrigued by 12 minutes of Marion a night. And I agree with Miller, however his defense is as bad as it gets.
I’ve seen some soccer players and hockey players come back in 2 weeks from something like this, but soccer players don’t use hands, and hockey players are hockey players. I can’t see Love back until June, if the Cavs make it that far. I don’t think he’s lost for the playoffs, but I’d have to think he’s out until the finals. Excuse me, The Finals.
I was a big fan of Toronto’s style of play last year, but they never could get back to it this year. They were playing well before the DeRozan injury, but that does not explain the entire season or how they fell apart at the end. Just a bad year for what seemed like a promising team.
Pat had Atlanta coming into the year as the team to worry about, I had Toronto. Well, I was wrong (but hey, maybe he was too if they lose to Brooklyn đ ).
Agreed, when Marion came back, he looked as spry as ever. When he’s healthy, his length really bothers people. David Blatt would have to hide Miller on somebody who is currently ineffective as far as getting his own points. The current version of Noah falls under that category, but that’s about it. I wouldn’t want to see Miller trying to chase Dunleavy, Mirotic, or Butler around screens. I wouldn’t want to see him trying to defend Gibson in the post.
Always curious to get Lowe’s view on NBA things. Consistently a great read.
I suppose that makes sense. Although they could rule him out internally, and let the media and opponent think there’s a chance. (cue Dumb and Dumber gifs…)
I would not be surprised to see Love return if the Cavs can advance to the ECF just because of the kind of guy Love seems to be. If he can contribute and not hurt the team he’d probably play with his left arm in a sling. I want him back next year. I’m still a Love fan and always will be just like I was with LBJ.
Having gone through the injury, my shoulder felt strong anything below the chest. Above the head was the problem
A day to day almost insinuates that if the player is gutsy enough, he can play through it IMO
torn labrum = bad!!! Altough I believe the only way to further the tear is to pop it out again. The shoulder only pops out when the arm is down. It will be more susceptible for reccurence until the labrum is reparied and things are tightened up.