Late in the second quarter of Game 3 between the Celtics and the Cavaliers, Evan Turner dragged LeBron James to the floor to stop the easy points on a fast break, and was whistled for a flagrant-one foul because of it.
It wasn’t a terribly physical play, nor was it necessarily one that was dangerous. But after a physical first half where a similar play between Jonas Jerebko and Kyrie Irving was let go as a common foul by the officials, they likely made the call to let the players know to relax with the excessively-physical plays.
James has 17 points and eight rebounds at the intermission, and Cleveland closed on a 12-0 run to take a halftime lead of 56-48.
