The Cleveland Cavaliers won over the Toronto Raptors in Sunday's Game 4 matchup, 109-102, for a semifinals sweep.
Cavs superstar LeBron James wasn't being savage when he tried helping forward Normal Powell from earning a technical foul. Powell headed towards the bench ready to get a breather from his matchup with James, not realizing he shouldn't have.
James prevented him from walking off the court by yanking the back of his jersey and stopping a technical due to an illegal substitution in the process. While it was a friendly gesture by James who was just trying to help, Powell told ESPN's Dave McMenamin he had a problem with his jersey being yanked.
“They were subbing in PJ [Tucker], he thought I was coming out, he was pulling my jersey, I hit his hand away and told him, ‘You don't do that.' I told him not to pull my jersey. We got into it a little bit. I told him not to pull my jersey. If he's trying to get my attention, call my name, call my number, but don't do that. Don't pull my jersey like that.”
The intention to help didn't matter one bit to Powell although he has no personal beef against James.
“I just don't like that. I don't care if it's LeBron or if it's anybody. It could be Kawhi [Leonard], it could be anybody. Just don't pull my jersey. I feel like that's a little disrespectful, you know what I'm saying? Like you're trying to son me, and I don't go for that.”
There is no unwritten players code of conduct broken in the matter, but it did spark a bit of an exchange between the two considering it was a bit embarrassing for Powell.
“He said he was trying to help me. He was like, ‘All right, all right. I won't help next time.' Whatever. Just don't pull my jersey. My coaches were telling me that I was staying in any way, so he didn't need to do that. I thought it was a little extra, and I told him not to do it. And that was that.”
The Raptors have now been eliminated by the Cavs for the second straight time.
Did yal see Lebron making sure Powell doesn't leave the floor so the Raptors wouldn't get an illegal substitution last night? pic.twitter.com/9kqwbtxD4q
— justin (@WeNotSocks) May 6, 2017
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