After three games on the road, the NBA’s defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers were back inside the friendly confines of Quicken Loans Arena last night for a matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers, resulting in a 122-105 runaway victory for the home team.
Less than two minutes into last night’s game, Cavaliers star point guard Kyrie Irving received a rare flagrant foul.
After witnessing Sixers guard Justin Anderson shove LeBron James in the back while jockeying for rebounding position, Irving took it upon himself to defend his teammate. “Uncle Drew,” as Irving is known, shoved Anderson in the back with two hands as he attempted to chase down a loose ball. After an official review of the play, Irving was issued a flagrant 1.
https://youtu.be/rdJ0JwrygXY
Irving spoke to members of the media after last night’s win with regards to his on-court defense of James.
Via Carter Rodriguez of Fear the Sword:
“I’m still not (an enforcer), but whether it was malicious or not, when I was in the play, I caught the tail end of it and I kind of saw Justin (Anderson) lower his shoulder and knock down Bron, and then that kind of took me out of the play . . . I was like, ‘I hope he doesn’t get the basketball again,’ otherwise I got to do something, I got to protect my brother so . . . You know, (there’s a) a lot of late hits on Bron, a lot of guys trying to get one over on him, so it’s over for that. It’s over for that. Just trying to protect anybody and everybody on my team.”
This is actually a good sign for the Cavaliers, who have been struggling as of late. While it’s true that Irving isn’t known as an enforcer, it’s nice to know that he is willing to take the job in certain scenarios.
James tells ESPN’s Brian Windhorst that Irving’s actions were part of being a member of the Cavaliers brotherhood.
“He was protecting me from getting shoved,” James said of Irving. “It’s about it being a brotherhood around here and not letting anything happen to each other.”
