The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly wanted to avenge Kevin Love’s injury which he sustained in the first quarter against the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
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Love suffered a dislocated shoulder after getting tangled up with Kelly Olynyk in the first quarter, and he immediately ran back to the locker room and did not return to the game.
The 26-year-old insisted after the game that he believes his Celtics rival did it on purpose, with replays showing him yanking his arm. However, Olynyk has hit back and denied that it was intentional and wished Love a speedy recovery in order for him to feature in the playoffs again this year.
Naturally, this story is expected to rumble on and the latest report claims that the Cavs spoke about Love’s injury at half-time and agreed that they would retaliate in the second half, according to Celtics radio analyst Cedric Maxwell.
While it is unclear how a radio analyst from the opposing team would know such details, it does some to have some substance as Kendrick Perkins risked being tossed out the game for his altercation with Jae Crowder, while JR Smith was ejected for clocking him in the face.
It is quite unfortunate that the Cavs opted to target Crowder and not Olynyk, with the former suffering a sprained ACL in his left knee which forced him to leave the game as he fell awkwardly following Smith’s hit to the face.
“I talked to some of the Cavaliers players, and one of the things they mentioned to me, they said, ‘Look, what happened to Kevin Love, we’re going to retaliate,'” Maxwell said Sunday night on WBZ-TV’s Sports Final.
While it is difficult to criticise the team for giving it back after seeing one of their own suffer a serious injury, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do as while Love will now potentially miss the Eastern Conference semi-finals, Smith can expect a phone call from the league regarding a suspension for his indiscipline.
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