The Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers spurred a rivalry in the past decade because of their multiple playoff matchups. It started with a young LeBron and his squad going up against a powerhouse Piston team. Now, the tables have turned. The Cavaliers are the powerhouse of the East while Detroit is a young, gritty team. Through the four game series of round one, we have seen a lot of trash talking being done on the court. But, in Game’s Two, Three, And Four, things got got too chippy. If the Cavs were going to make it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals without any injuries or suspensions, they would have no choice but to put all their efforts towards sweeping the Pistons.
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The series shifted to Detroit for Game 3 and 4 this weekend, and the Cavs went in and got the job down. In game two things got a bit chippy between both teams as words and even some elbows were exchanged. The Pistons played LeBron James and Kevin Love extremely physical but the two Cavaliers won that battle each and every time.
After the second game, both Stanley Johnson and Marcus Morris had some words about LeBron James. Johnson, who was bumped by LeBron James, had something to say about it after the game:
“It’s fake as hell… I don’t take anything from it, but as a cheap shot, a cheap ass bump.”
Johnson obviously was not thrilled that James made contact with him during a timeout. Johnson also had something to say about the Cavs bench when talking about LeBron:
“He jabbers. He moves his mouth sometimes. Their whole team does, kind of like their little cheerleaders on the bench.”
These are fighting words when it is directed towards a tight knit group like the Cavs. Marcus Morris also caught the attention of James with LeBron being caught saying he will “‘Eff’ him up,’ due to his throwing of elbows, and Morris responded with “I know for a fact he wasn’t talking to me… you can quote me on that.”
After all that, it’s clear that some of the Pistons were frustrated, and it become e greater cause for concern because of the possibility that the game gets more physical. With the Cavs looking to up up 3-0, and then eventually winning the series 4-0, plays throughout the game made it all the more clear that Detroit was not to be trusted and that the Cavs should just try to finish each game out as healthy as possible.
Based off of what was said, if the Pistons are going down in this series, they might as well try to take a Cavalier down with them. Here are just a few of the plays that ended up stirring controversy during the series.
LeBron just went off on Morris after a dirty play.."I'm a F*** that n***** up!" pic.twitter.com/Qvcs3HDbpR
— NBA Inside Stuff (@NBAInside_Stuff) April 21, 2016
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The Cavs now await the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Boston Celtics series. With that series going to a sure Game 6 in Boston on Thursday night, the Cavs will get about a week’s worth of rest to recover from the physicality that Detroit displayed in that opening round series.
