A Jonas Valanciunas elbow to Richard Jefferson started an ordeal between the Raptors and Cavaliers in the second quarter of Game 6
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors both entered Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals knowing that everything was on the line, meaning the Raptors would stay alive with a win and stay at home with a loss. As such, the emotions and tensions were high in the contest right from the very start. They almost reached a boiling point early on in the second quarter with Jonas Valanciunas and Richard Jefferson, though.
While going up for a rebound, Valanciunas was sent flying backwards in between Jefferson and Channing Frye. On his way back, though, Jefferson swiped at the ball and JV took exception. Subsequently, the big man for the Raptors threw a hard elbow into the chest of Jefferson, which caused the veteran Cavs forward to then get in Valanciunas’ face. Then near-chaos ensued:
That definitely could have gotten much worse if Patrick Patterson and the officials hadn’t cleared everyone out, which is probably a good thing that they did that.
As a result, Valanciunas, Jefferson, and Patterson—assumedly for “pushing” an opposing player despite his intentions—were all assessed technical fouls for the brief skirmish. Considering that this also came after Bismack Biyombo was whistled for a Flagrant 1 in the first quarter for an errant elbow, this Game 6 certainly took a messy turn early on.
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