The NBA Finals are officially here with the Cleveland Cavaliers winning game three in dominating fashion. Not only is the series getting interesting based on the 2-1 scoreline, but it is also adding just a little bit of animosity between the two teams.
Game three featured an adjustment from Cavs’ coach Tyronn Lue in giving minutes to now seldom-used center Timofey Mozgov. But Mozgov’s performance itself was not his most notable accomplishment on Wednesday night. Instead, it was a hard screen he set during the second quarter of the game.
With Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson running downhill to stay on Kyrie Irving, Mozgov set an illegal screen in a strange position to free up his point guard. The screen wound up injuring Thompson with a blow to the leg, though he would eventually return to the game.
After the game, Thompson had some words about the incident:
Klay Thompson thought the screen from Mozgov was dirty ???#NBAFinals #DubNation #ALLin216 pic.twitter.com/CZ59BUKPSz
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) June 9, 2016
To be fair, Thompson doesn’t seem to be fully invested in calling it a dirty play, though he does. Instead, he is mostly commenting about the strangeness of setting a screen at the time and position that Mozgov did, and he has a point. Nevertheless, using the word “dirty” implies something about the opponent and in this case, it already has Cavs’ forward Richard Jefferson commenting:
Richard Jefferson on Mozgov's screen on Klay: "Draymond's stuff has been well documented…I don't think it's much of a story."
— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) June 9, 2016
Welp.
Jefferson went to the known strategy of “if your teammate is accused of playing dirty against the Warriors, bring up the fact that Draymond Green kicked someone in the groin.”
Never fails.
