Cavs down Celtics in game four 101-93, complete sweep

Brad Stevens considers an act of retribution as he stares down "basketball player" J.R. Smith.
The Cavaliers opened the game with an all-too-familiar barrage of second chance points that prompted Brad Stevens to call a timeout less than two minutes in. Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Love battled for a loose ball with about 5:22 to go. Love tried to hold off Olynyk but Kelly grabbed Love's upper arm, effectively dislocating Love's shoulder. The Celtics trailed 29-19 after one.



The Celtics simply couldn't get it going against the Love-less Cavs in the second. Things got heated after Kendrick Perkins laid a forearm screen on Jae Crowder. Perkins then walked toward him, a scrum ensued, and Perkins attempted to slap Crowder.



Boston went into the locker-room down 57-36.

The egregious assessment by the refs was a tech for Crowder and a tech for Perkins...(wow). The Cavs weren't done with the non-basketball plays, however. Usual suspect J.R. Smith offered this Mortal Kombat move while boxing out Jae Crowder:



Crowder's awkward fall also resulted in a knee sprain which capped off his day (and game of hell).

Boston really struggled to shoot the ball for what seemed like the entire night, but the effort was exemplary. Marcus Smart energized the team and crowd by hitting the deck for loose balls and Jonas Jerebko played some inspired defense on LeBron James.

Despite shooting 1 of 15 from downtown and 14 of 25 at the line, the Celtics went into the fourth quarter with just a 70-61 deficit. Unfortunately, the Celts couldn't string a threatening run together in time and found themselves on the losing end of a 101-93 game 4.

LeBron James did much of the damage for Cleveland, tallying 27 points (10 of 24 from the field), 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and a block. Kyrie Irving added 23 on 8 for 19 shooting to go with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block.

Jared Sullinger was big for Boston, collecting 11 rebounds and adding 21 points (9 of 17 shooting) and a block.

A look at the final box score for the Celtics:


Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Steven Senne