Cleveland Cavaliers reserve Dahntay Jones won’t be accumulating any garbage time minutes Monday night in Toronto.
The NBA on Sunday suspended Jones for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals after he punched Toronto Raptors big man Bismarck Biyombo in the groin during Toronto’s 99-84 win in Game 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzdfCB0PuMg
Raptors coach Dwane Casey also was fined $25,000 for criticizing officials after the game. The fact that Jones was not called for a foul of any sort on the aforementioned play was Casey’s primary point of contention.
“(Biyombo) is not getting the calls,” Casey told reporters, via ESPN.com. “We shoot zero free throws in the fourth quarter. Zero. He’s getting hit. There’s one play where they almost have a brawl. He gets killed on that play.
“I don’t know if he’s getting hit because of how physical and tough he is, but he’s getting cracked. To his credit, I thought he was going to lose his head when he got the technical foul, but he kept playing.
“He’s one of the top rebounders in the league, and no telling how many times he gets hit and fouled under there without being called. Again, I’m going to say this: I think he gets hit almost on every rebound and putback there is, and he just doesn’t get the calls, whether he’s rolling to the bucket, and we’ve just got to have consistency with that.”
Cheap shots aside, Biyombo was a force in Game 3, blocking four shots and collecting an astounding 26 rebounds as the Raptors handed the Cavs their first loss of the postseason.
Jones’ one-game ban is hardly a loss for the Cavs, as the 35-year-old has logged just 20 total minutes of playing time throughout Cleveland’s entire 11-game playoff run.
