The Boston Celtics went down in four games after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-93 on Sunday at TD Garden, but they did some serious damage to the Cavaliers before embarking on their vacation, and the Cavs returned the favor.
LeBron James nearly provided a triple-double, producing 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight rebounds and three steals to lead his team to victory. Kyrie Irving supplied 24 points and 11 assists in a bounce-back from a subpar Game 3 performance.
The game that advanced Cleveland to the second round, where its opponent will be the winner of the Chicago Bulls-Milwaukee Bucks series, took a back seat to the numerous altercations that took place.
Boston wanted to play aggressive, physical basketball. That’s one of the reasons Celtics coach Brad Stevens elected to start Jae Crowder to give the team a physicality boost to counter James’ forceful style of play.
At the end of the day, the Celtics took it too far.
Cavaliers forward Kevin Love left the game after getting his left arm tangled up with the Celtics’ Kelly Olynyk on a rebound pursuit midway in the first quarter. Olynyk’s role in the incident appeared far from innocent.
He tugged at Love’s loose arm, possibly dislocating it. Love was in excruciating pain as he departed. Olynyk only received a common foul. After playing six minutes in the opening quarter, Olynyk only played another five minutes in the second half.
The Cavaliers say they are still in the process of evaluating Love. He only played seven minutes and scored two points.
The Celtics had been bordering on rough tactics throughout. They have been roughing up James excessively, and Jonas Jerebko tried to initiate an altercation with Irving in Game 3 after he pulled the guard to the floor in transition.
On Sunday Cavs coach David Blatt had seen enough. It was time to insert some Perkiness.
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