In the second quarter of last night’s Game 4 matchup in the NBA Finals, Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant and Cleveland Cavaliers swingman Dahntay Jones became involved in a bit of a jawing match near the sideline. As a result, Jones, who hadn’t even entered the game yet, was issued a technical foul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myzO4r0Mwlw
Jones, known to be somewhat of an enforcer for the Cavs, spoke to members of the media about the play after last night’s 137-116 victory.
Via Joe Vardon of cleveland.com:
“I’m standing my ground,” Jones said. “He comes to me and is saying something disrespectful. I speak to him, they T me up. OK. Fall in love with the superstars. That’s cool. That’s fine.
“Did y’all watch Draymond Green talk behind the ref’s back to Tristan Thompson?” Jones continued. “As soon as the ref turns his back, he’s got something to say.”
Jones went on to say that last night’s hard-fought battle is how the Cavs need to play going forward if they hope to erase their current 3-1 series deficit.
“We can’t take any nonsense. That’s our identity,” Jones said. “We’re backed in a corner. We got to play a little nasty. We got to have a little chip on our shoulders. It’s the way we play at our best.”
Game 5 is scheduled to tip at 9:00 p.m. EST on Monday inside Oracle Arena, with ABC having live broadcast coverage. We’ll just have to wait and see if the Cavs can indeed keep a similar mentality.