Crowder: Hope Cavs’ Smith apologizes for hit to face

The Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night – the first game since their playoff series last season.

Last season during the Cavs/Celtics playoffs series, Jae Crowder was another person in the series to undergo a devastating injury in which he sprained his left ACL.

“Well, I mean, if you come into Boston and play in their building and there’s no emotion, then something is going on”, James said during Cleveland’s shootaround.

When asked if J.R. intentionally tried to hurt him, he stated,”I hope he apologizes tomorrow”, Crowder said.

He should expect to just play ball, and keep an eye out for more of Smith’s antics.

On Tuesday night, the Cavaliers make their first trip to Boston since sweeping the Celtics out of the postseason last spring.

And while Love will primarily face off against Amir Johnson and David Lee, he’ll match up against Olynyk at some point.

It was clear the Celtics weren’t ready to compete with the best of the best last April, but the lessons learned from the sweep have carried over to the start of this season.

When asked if there were any hard feelings towards Olynyk, Love said, “No”. Smith was ejected and suspended for two games for the incident, but has apparently not apologized to Crowder. Although he avoided surgery, Crowder spent time in the offseason rehabbing. “So we know that Boston’s a very good team and we want to come in here and do good”. “So I think we’re all right right now”, Olynyk said. There is a basketball game to be played – one of 82, as they’ll say – and both clubs may be a bit tired from the schedule to do more than what will be required in a hoop duel that should be more competitive than their playoff dates.

Coach Brad Stevens, too, knocked down the carryover conversation. “I don’t know how guys on either side feel about it. I think, obviously Love’s injury was really unfortunate”. Evidently, Celtics forward Jae Crowder still harbors some Taylor Swift-level bad blood from that last meeting. “We’ve got to be in tune with the game plan, and we’ve got to be aggressive, because they’re going to be aggressive”.

Cavs All-Star Kevin Love got tangled up with Boston big man Kelly Olynyk, who dislocated Love’s shoulder and forced him out for the rest of Cleveland’s run to the NBA Finals. Guard J.R. Smith missed Friday’s game against the Magic with an illness.