All the King’s Men: While We’re Waiting…

Charles Oakley made a living out of it. Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O’Neal—hell, even Zydrunas Ilgauskas, to a point—all played the role of Enforcer. When Oakley was setting screens for Michael Jordan, the message was clear that Cleveland native was there for one reason: To protect his team’s star.

When LeBron James walked off of the court at the TD Garden on Sunday afternoon, following his requisite two-to-three-question interview with whichever television crew earned the rights to the immediate discussion, he had three rounds of handshakes locked and loaded. The first went to Tristan Thompson, his friend and teammate who had done much of the dirty work in extending possessions for the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout their first-round series with the Boston Celtics. The second was for Kyrie Irving, his running mate throughout much of the series, who once again provided a solid scoring effort, but also added a career-best 11 rebounds of his own. As the three men walked off of the floor to join their teammates in the locker room, the third was deployed in the hallway to a waiting J.R. Smith who had been related to the bowels of The Garden following his second-half ejection. James stopped dead in his tracks, spent several seconds executing a flawless dap, and looked Smith in the eyes before nodding in approval and heading into the locker room.

The Boston Celtics spent much of the series attempting to make up for their lack of talent with increased physical play. It began in Game 3 and bubbled over to Game 4 where the officials completely lost control of the situation from the first quarter on. For Cavalier coach David Blatt, who spent much of the series shrugging off physical play as being a ‘part of the game,’ to insert Kendrick Perkins into the lineup with one like-minded goal in place, it signaled that enough was indeed enough.

The common refrain is that Olynyk’s play on Kevin Love was not a basketball play. That Olynyk, a player who had been a mismatch for the Cavaliers throughout the series, was benched until late in the contest spoke volumes. That the player left the arena before he could be interviewed spoke even louder. What the league now has is a Game that will not be about James leading his team to a sweep. It will not be about Kyrie Irving’s continued growth or Iman Shumpert quietly having his best game of the series. It’ll be about a potentially injured star, fouls that should have been called (including the late-game technical foul on Isaiah Thomas which was somehow missed before the ball was then awarded to Boston), video replay that was relied upon entirely too much, and a game that could have actually been basketball had the officials actually done their job throughout the series rather than placating to the talent disparity.

Jae Crowder came into that series with a point to prove. Rather than playing the game of basketball, he rested his laurels on physical play that bordered on dirty with shoving in the back and hard fouls. Kendrick Perkins went high with his hands to Crowder’s neck area. A foul was properly called. J.R. Smith’s actions were brutal. They were the result of three missed shoves by the officials, but what he did following those absent whistles is without justification. Both individuals could have responded better, but let emotions get the best of them—emotions that would have never bubbled up if not for the lack of control displayed by officials.

Make no mistake: James and the rest of his teammates are very unhappy about potentially losing several players for more than a game in the NBA Playoffs. But make no mistake: The message was delivered loud and clear, not just to the Celtics and Crowder, but to the rest of the NBA who feels that they will be able to be overly physical with a team that rosters two of the best players in the league.

The Cavaliers will now be without two starters for considerable time—one potentially for the rest of the season. Their Enforcer, the player who was brought here to protect LeBron James from the physical play that was being bestowed upon him, could miss a game for the league could rule that the officials should have ejected him on Sunday. The league has a chance to step in and admit their negligence. Unfortunately, I fear that their biggest concern at this point, after they levy suspensions, will be to schedule the Celtics and Cavs on TNT for 2015-16.

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Those who get super offended by beat writers tweeting out draft picks before the selection is made will be somewhat pleased with the latest news from Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.

Once again, neither ESPN nor NFL Network staffers will give away picks in advance on Twitter and others social media services during the opening round. …

One of ESPN’s and NFL Network’s main Twitter competitors—Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports—is often ahead of the draft broadcast on Twitter. He does not have any Twitter restrictions on his reporting but said on Sunday that he will be part of a live, on-line show this year so he won’t be approaching the draft on Twitter as he had in previous years.

I’ve long been on the “eh…whatever” side of this coin. While I understand that there’s little value in preempting something by a matter of seconds, I also understand that it’s a reporters job to share what he knows. I’m a firm believer that no one is forced to follow La Canfora on Twitter, and that there’s also some competitive spirt in play as a CBS reporter can take away some thunder from those at the NFL Network or ESPN. So yeah, he may not tweet out as many picks this year. Sweet. I guess.

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Pour those hot takes down the drain and sip on some #ActualSportswriting

Pro wrestling’s Wolfpac discuss Undertaker in WCW and Their Legacy by Justin Barrasso (Sports Illustrated): “The line of fans at the Sukee Ice Arena extended out the door to meet Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Far removed from headlining shows at Madison Square Garden, the trio—known as “The Wolfpac”—returned the favor by treating their fans with the same type of reverence. Hall joked and chatted with fans, while Nash and Waltman continually went deep into conversation with men, women and children who have, in some cases, spent the past 20 years watching these superstars perform in the ring.”

“Bruce Jenner’s declaration creates an opportunity” by Christina Kahrl (ESPN.com): “Transness is an increasingly better understood element of our common humanity, but Jenner’s transition between genders is unique, albeit for a different reason. Given the Kardashian-Jenner reality TV experience, it will be the most scripted (and most public) transition of all time. We can wonder about how well Jenner, 65, has armored himself against the difficulties he will face. What was Jenner’s sense of community with other trans folk? At the same time Jenner was winning Olympic gold, Renee Richards was blazing trails as the first out transgender athlete — what did that mean to Jenner then?”

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And finally…This video from legendary comedian Chris Rock, who delivers a thoughtful seven-plus minute monologue on the plummeting percentage of African Americans playing the game of baseball.¹

Have a splendid Monday, you guys. Keep those shoulders intact, would ya?

1. Cheap Plug: I also spoke with a few members of the Chicago White Sox when they were in town about this very topic. [↩]