Cleveland Cavaliers wing Iman Shumpert apparently wanted Toronto Raptors wing DeMar DeRozan to give him a piggyback ride on this out of bounds play.
When you’re Iman Shumpert, you tend to do things a little differently. You’ll end up with haircuts that your dog will even hate. Sometimes you just need a piggyback ride, especially in road playoff games.
On a simple out of bounds play against the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Shumpert had to leave his feet and decided to take Raptors star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan on a wild and crazy ride.
The Kentucky Derby might be tomorrow, but that’s in another country in city called Louisville. Cleveland has some dinosaurs to beat in Canada, so that was not the time to treat an Eastern Conference All-Star like Seabiscuit.
If you’re going to mount him, treat him like Secretariat, as DeRozan is a three-time NBA All-Star and an Olympic Gold medalist. How dare you! Yes, the Raptors are on the precipice of getting swept in the second round, but there is no reason to potentially hurt their other star player in some sort of equestrian event. Isn’t Calgary the Canadian rodeo town, not Toronto?
While Shumpert normally makes his money trying to make three-balls, we had no idea that he had this kind of agility. GOB might have hated that, but there is no way Ginuwine wouldn’t have been impressed with turning an NBA All-Star into a Pony.
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Overall, Cleveland looks to be in good shape to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Toronto has had no bite in this best-of-seven series. There is a solid chance that the Cavaliers can reach the next round unscathed. Should they win Game 4, it is entirely possible Cleveland reaches the NBA Finals at 12-0 this postseason.