That had to hurt.
Slow motion replays of Kevin Love's dislocated shoulder show his arm popping right out the socket after getting entangled with Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk during Game 4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Celtics playoff series Sunday. Can you say painful? No wonder he ran off the court and straight into the locker room to be attended to.
The Cavaliers finished off the sweep of the Celtics, but Love could wind up missing a minimum of two weeks of the NBA playoffs, a source told ESPN, signaling he could miss the entire Cavs-Chicago Bulls series. As long as the Bulls finish off the Milwaukee Bucks, they will meet the Cavs in the Eastern Conference semifinals. After watching the replay himself, Love thinks Olynyk purposely hurt him in the first-quarter Sunday.
"I thought it was a bush-league play," Love told ESPN. "Olynyk was in a compromising position, had no chance to get the ball, and it's just too bad that he would go to those lengths to take somebody out of the game and do that to someone. I have no doubt in my mind that he did that on purpose.
"That's just not a basketball play," added Love, who has been playing his best hoops of the season during that series. "You look at the replay. I saw a picture of his arm underneath. It's just not a basketball play. Yeah, expect it to be physical, but when it has to go to that length, that's not the way it's supposed to be. That's not how you play basketball."
Olynyk vehemently denied that charge, while speaking to the Boston Herald.
"That's ridiculous," said Olynyk about intentionally hurting Love, adding that he tried to reach out to the Cavs power forward after the game. "I would never intentionally hurt Kevin or anyone else. He locked my arm up, I locked up his as we were fighting for a loose ball. You lock up arms all the time in this league. I wish him a very speedy recovery, and I hope he can come back to help his team in the playoffs."
In the second half of the same game, J.R. Smith swung his arm back during a rebound attempt and knocked Celtics forward Jae Crowder down with a closed fist. Crowder had to be carried off the court with a sprained left knee. Smith was tossed out the game with a flagrant-two foul and may even miss games of the Cavs' Eastern Conference semifinal series if the NBA suspends him. There's also a report emerging that after Love was injured, the Cavs plotted second-half retaliation and found it in the form of Smith and Crowder. Hmm ...
Cedric Maxwell on Sports Final last night said Cavs players told him at halftime they were going to get back at #celtics for Love injury — Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) April 27, 2015
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