Maxwell: Cavs players said they would retaliate for Love injury

Cedric Maxwell, who, for those who don’t know, does color commentary for the Celtics radio broadcasts, was on WBZ’s Sports Final last night. He says Cavs players told him at halftime they would retaliate for the injury to Kevin Love:

“I talked to some of the Cavaliers players, and one of the things they mentioned to me, they said, ‘Look, what happened with Kevin Love, we’re going to retaliate,’” Maxwell said on Sunday night’s Sports Final on WBZ-TV. “That might have happened when [Kendrick Perkins] came in the game and had the hard foul, and it could have happened with [Jae] Crowder, because they banged him around pretty good. They might have been sending a message back.”

I don’t think Kelly Olynyk tried to injure Kevin Love. I think he tried to foul Kevin Love chasing a loose ball and he unfortunately got hurt. To a man, the Celtics defended Olynyk saying he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Watching him play… I believe them. I think Olynyk was trying to be physical and something went wrong. That’s something no one wanted.

I also watched a lot of basketball yesterday, and I couldn’t find a single analyst in any of the games or pre/post-game broadcasts who thought that was intentional.

The only person who thought that was intentional is Kevin Love, which I understand. It’s an emotional reaction to possibly missing the playoffs after having gone all this time in his career watching the playoffs from home. He’s pissed. I would be too. And his teammates have his back, which is to be expected.

What Kendrick Perkins did, though, was dirty. It was pre-meditated, and intentional.

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Running up to a player to “set a pick,” hands up in the face/throat area, and then extending the arms is intentional and dirty. And considering that Perk, the long-time former Celtic, would recognize Max in the tunnel immediately, it’d be a safe bet that Perk was at least one of the guys barking about revenge. If Cavs fans want to know what dirty basketball looks like, that’s it.

Or this.

The NBA is definitely going to want to hear from Maxwell on this. Any sort of premeditated response by the Cavs will not go over well as the league hands down its punishments.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Olynyk gets punished. I think Perkins gets a fine and possibly a 1-game suspension. Despite what Chuck said, I think Smith gets AT LEAST 3 games, possibly 5, and as many as 7 for a spinning back fist. His prior history and now talk of premeditated retaliation shows he can’t just get one game. He’s gotta get more than that. I think 3 will be lenient, but I’ll accept it.