ON THE SIDELINES AT A LACROSSE PRACTICE, SOMEWHERE – By now I’m sure you have all seen
Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford’s Flagrant 2 foul on Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Matthew Dellavedova during the second quarter of Sunday night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. (If you haven’t, here’s the link.) And I’m sure you all have your own opinion on the play.
Whether you agree with the call or not, it can’t be denied that it changed the complexion of the game.
Before we go any further, here’s what the NBA had to say about the call, via the NBA’s officiating Twitter handle: “Horford threw an unnecessary and excessive forearm/elbow to Dellavedova, making contact above the shoulders, therefore a Flagrant 2 foul was called on Horford, who was ejected from the game, and Dellavedova received a technical.”
Review: 34.3 secs left/Q2: if Horford committed a flagrant foul in Q2 of #ATLvCLE. Ruling: Flagrant 2 on Horford. https://t.co/H3jshUpbfj
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) May 25, 2015
This is what’s interesting… If you look at the replay, Horford’s elbow actually connects with Dellavedova’s shoulder and then slides up to his jaw. While it’s up for debate whether or not the elbow was “unnecessary and excessive”, it’s clear that Horford first made contact at Dellavedova’s shoulder, not above. Yes, Big Al probably should have never thrown it, but considering Dellavedova’s history you can’t blame him.
Okay, so Horford’s ejected, no changing that. But fast forward almost 12 minutes later… A similar play occurs, yet this time it is a Cavaliers player throwing the elbow.
J.R. Smith throws an elbow and connects with Kent Bazemore’s nose while going for a loose ball. One could make a good argument that it was an unnecessary elbow considering the ball was near the floor.
Explanation: 11.5 secs left/Q3: The foul by Smith did not meet the criteria for a Flagrant foul in Q3 of #ATLvCLE. https://t.co/KwtJifJNh7
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) May 25, 2015
Why would Smith need to throw his elbow up to get the ball? There’s no good answer to to that question.
If you’re going to eject Horford, you have to eject Smith too.
Who knows how this game would have turned out if the calls went differently.
Hot Take: Where’s the offense? The New York Rangers are starting to rely a bit to much on King Henrik, don’t you think?
After scoring five goals to even the series 2-2, the Rangers’ offense is nowhere to be found in the critical Game 5.
This seems to be a bit of a theme, too. Aside from the five-goal scoring efforts in Game 3 and 4, the Rangers have been held to one goal or less in their other three games this series.
The Rangers’ offense needs to show up if New York wants to stay alive. Henrik Lundqvist can’t do it all on his own.
Problems on the diamond in New York. It seems like the rest of the MLB has caught up to the Yankees and
Mets. It seems like a decade ago, but both teams led their respective divisions last week. Boy how times have changed, huh?
Both teams have the talent to turn things around and it’s only May, so it’s not too late.
The Yankees just need to get healthy, and Masahiro Tanaka will provide a good boost to a desperate starting rotation when he returns in June.
While the Mets’ reign in the NL East may be over, by no fault of their own, the Yankees should be in the thick of the AL East hunt all season long. While the AL East is full of parity, the Washington Nationals are just playing too well right now for the Mets to catch up.
At least the Yankees honored Bernie Williams Sunday night.
And on behalf of every at MTM, I would like to thank all of the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to keep this wonderful country safe. Thank you.
That’s it for now!
Feel free to comment below and find me on Twitter at @DJEberle66. Until next time…
