Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love will not face a suspension in light of his last-minute mistake during Game 1 of the NBA Finals, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports.
Love had stepped inbounds while taking part on the Cavs bench, hoping to argue in favor of his teammate Tristan Thompson who was hit with a late foul call on Golden State Warriors point guard Shaun Livingston.
By rule, no bench players should step inside the court unless signaled by an official to come into the game. Love had been inside the court during, as a Cavs assistant tried to later reel him inside the bench once he realized Love had overstepped his boundaries as a bench player.
While the league has been trying to be uniform and Love did break the rules, it would be an unnecessarily petty move to suspend a player that did not cause any harm or contributed to the skirmish that took place between the two teams soon after.
The Cavs might have taken more than a painful 124-114 loss at the end of overtime, as the league is still reviewing a potential ruling on Thompson, who was ejected from the game after challenging a Livingston jump shot and a consequent tiff with forward Draymond Green.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the league could have a ruling by later today, setting the stage for Sunday’s Game 2 of the series.
