While the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their sweep of the Boston Celtics, the real story of the game was the tension that had been building the entire series coming to an ugly, often dirty head.
LeBron James was magnificent with his 27-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist performance, but much of his brilliance was overshadowed by the loss of Kevin Love and the machismo-fueled stupidity of Kendrick Perkins and J.R. Smith.
Best example of the last thing the Cavs want to happen:
If the Cavaliers are going to go deep in the playofs, they’ll need Kevin Love to emerge as a legitimate second or third option on offense. Through the first three games of the first round, Love showed he was up to that task, finding a groove he’d been missing for most of the year. All seemed to be going well for the Cavaliers. Then Kelly Olynyk happened.
Olynyk and Love got tangled up going for a rebound in the first quarter. As the two jockeyed for the ball, Olynyk got Love’s arm in a quasi-armbar and pushed down on his shoulder, forcing it to move in an unnatural manner. Love exited the game and did not return.
Sweeping the Celtics is a great start for the Cavaliers’ championship run, but if Love’s injury proves to be extensive — the team officially announced it was a separated shoulder, and that Love will receive further examination — it’s a bittersweet victory to be sure.
Best example of disproportional response:
There is no question that Olynyk’s risky move caused Love’s injury. Whether it was intentional — whether he meant to cause Love harm — is another murkier matter. What’s much clearer is the intention of both Kendrick Perkins and JR Smith in their misguided retaliation attemps against the Celtics.
Shortly after entering the game in the second quarter, Kendrick Perkins blindsided Jae Crowder with an illegal screen.
It was a dirty move, with Perkins holding his arms high and shoving Crowder down. To make matters worse, after the inevitable scuffle ensued, Perkins got another shot in on Crowder’s face. Somehow, Perkins wasn’t ejected for his antics, and instead was issued a technical foul and a flagrant 1.
That should have been the end of it, right? Wrong. It only got worse. Later on, Smith backhanded Crowder during a loose ball, knocking Crowder to the ground at such an awkward angle that his leg bent in an inhuman direction. Crowder left the game with what the Celtics dubbed a knee sprain, while Smith was ejected after his foul was ruled a flagrant 2.
We see these types of retaliations all the time in every team sport — it’s essentially tradition, and one of the main reasons the Cavs signed Perkins in the first place. But tradition is not a justification for goon-ery. Moreover, it’s especially stupid when you risk severe injury to a player that had nothing to do with the original incident. All Perkins and Smith managed to do in their disproportional response was potentially cause extensive harm to Crowder and risk getting suspended for at least one game apiece (Smith will already miss the next game as a result of his ejection).
Best “Make your dad proud” moment: Austin Rivers’ Game 4 performance
Austin Rivers hasn’t exactly been good this year. Then again, he hasn’t been good in his entire-though-still-young three-year career. The Clippers traded for him thinking that by playing under his dad, Doc Rivers, the younger Rivers could become a productive player. That hasn’t really come to pass — except for today.
The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-105 to even the series at 2-2, thanks in large part to Rivers’ play off the bench. He scored 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and every time the Spurs appeared to shut down the Clippers’ offense, it was Rivers that would jump-start it and keep the Spurs at bay.
Playoff games are often defined by unlikely heroes, and today that hero was Rivers.
(h/t Vinnyviner)
