BOSTON: While the Cavaliers are steeling themselves for another physical battle in Friday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals at TD Garden, they refused to accuse the Boston Celtics of dirty play in the opener.
Fans on Twitter reacted strongly to a third-quarter television shot that showed the Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas, who had fallen, grabbing at the ankle of Kevin Love as Love prepared to run downcourt at the 3:18 mark. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue also reacted strongly when James went down hard and came up limping with 9:47 remaining after a hard foul by Thomas as James was in midair on a layup attempt.
After Lue looked at the film, he did not believe the chippiness got out of hand.
“I thought it was a good playoff game. I thought that we were physical, I thought we could be a little bit more physical,” Lue said Thursday at TD Garden. “But when you’re in the playoffs, the Eastern Conference finals, you’re fighting for every possession, fighting for every inch. It’s going to get chippy and it’s going to be physical.”
As for the play when James was fouled in mid-air, Lue said he wanted to ask for a flagrant review at the time.
“But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was once I looked at it on tape, in live motion,” he said. “Things happen during the course of the game, even on defensive assignments or shots — ‘Man, that was a bad shot’ or, ‘That was a bad defensive play.’ When you watch it on film, it wasn’t that bad. Nah, we just move on.”
Neither did Lue believe Thomas trying to grab Love’s ankle was a dirty play. Love said he didn’t recall it happening in the postgame interview and James said Thursday he didn’t see it.
“It wasn’t anything. No big deal,” Lue said after seeing the tape.
James said he wasn’t upset by Thomas’ hard foul. He walked it off, limping, before stepping to the free-throw line and making both foul shots.
“It’s a physical game,” James said Thursday. “I don’t know when they look at it as far as the officials. But I was able to get up, knock down my free throws and just keep pushing. We just have to continue — the main thing is just to win the ballgame no matter how physical or how chippy it gets.”
The Celtics’ Marcus Smart and the Cavs’ Tristan Thompson also went chest-to-chest late in the third quarter, with James holding Thompson back. Both Smart and Thompson were assessed personal fouls, downgraded from technicals after review.
“He just boxed out, just tried to give them a spark,” Thompson said after the game. “He’s their spark off their bench. I remember when I used to come off the bench, I had to bring the energy, too. It’s part of the game, part of the playoffs. On to the next play.”
On Thursday, Thompson compared Smart’s tactics to what he saw from the Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Bogut in the NBA Finals the past two years.
“He’s been doing that for a long time. [Andrew] Bogut did a really good job for Golden State doing that, so they’re just trying to seal their guys and get opportunities for their teammates,” Thompson said before practice. “The ref catches it, blows the whistle, makes the calls. Everyone does different things.”
With the Cavs’ dominating Game 1 victory, Thompson knows the Celtics may ramp up the physicality in Game 2.
“It’s the playoffs now. People are going to junk during the game,” Thompson said. “We’ve just got to keep our composure. We’ve just got to stay locked in, and we can’t fall into the trap.”
On Wednesday night, J.R. Smith said the intensity and physicality may reach another level Friday.
“For them to come out strong and playing scrappy like they do, they’ve been playing like that all year,” Smith said of his expectations. “When their backs are against the wall they tend to play better, just like we do. Just have to expect that and understand there might be dirty plays or cheap shots or whatever coming from the other side because they’re playing for their lives at this point. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
James All-NBA
James joined Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone as the only players to be chosen to the All-NBA first team 11 times, as the league announced the teams Thursday.
But James was not voted first team on all 100 ballots, with the Houston Rockets’ James Harden the only player unanimously chosen by a global panel of sports writers and broadcasters. Votes for the first, second and third teams are awarded points on a 5-3-1 basis and James received 99 first-place votes and 498 points.
James has also made the second team twice and has been on the list each of the last 13 seasons.
The Cavs’ Kyrie Irving received only 14 points and did not make the second or third teams.
Also picked to the first team were Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook (498, 99 first-team votes), San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (490, 96) and New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis (343, 45).
Sporting Goodyear
James showed up at Thursday’s practice wearing an Akron Wingfoots jersey from the 1964 Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Co. team that won the 1964 AAU championship. All Cavs players and Lue received them.
The Cavs and Goodyear announced a partnership this week that will have the Cavs sporting the iconic Wingfoot logo on their jerseys starting next season. The Cavs logo will also appear on the Goodyear blimp.
Happy birthday
Channing Frye averaged 8.8 points in 14.3 minutes as the Cavs swept the Pacers and Raptors in the first two playoff rounds, but got in for only the final 3:06 on Wednesday. Lue saluted Frye for taking a subordinate role on his 34th birthday as Richard Jefferson played 12 minutes off the bench.
“We talked about it before the series,” Lue said. “Today is Channing’s birthday, and he knew he probably wasn’t going to play, and he said that’s OK. He understands. It’s all about winning, it’s all about matchups. R.J. came in and gave us a great lift. It’s all about sacrifice when you want to win.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.