'We want to fight for our brothers': Cavs rally after 'tough' Isaac Okoro play
CLEVELAND — Isaac Okoro was hit the face with an elbow, but somehow play continued despite the near-motionless small forward lying in the middle of the floor for several seconds.
Okoro was stepped on while laying there, but also somehow was called for a shooting foul.
Okoro left the game, but somehow returned during the same quarter despite taking a beating and being helped off the floor only a few minutes earlier.
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It was anything but an ordinary basketball play. And, strangely, the play was allowed to continue even as Okoro remained on the ground holding his head. It led to the Thunder's Chet Holmgren stepping on Okoro, which turned into a shooting foul — on Okoro.
It left some in the Cavs locker room with some questions after the Thunder rallied for a 108-105 win in the Cavaliers' home opener.
"That's a tough play," said Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff when asked about what he was told by the referees, who received several loud choruses of boos from the Cleveland crowd. "They called the foul on him because he's 'illegal,' but he's lying on the ground because he got busted in the face with an opponent's elbow.
"Typically if there's a play to the head, they have the ability to stop the game. He took a shot to the head and they allowed play to continue. And then they called a foul on him when he's lying on the ground. That's a tough one."
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The reaction from the home crowd was as expected. The confused looks on the Cavs bench when it was revealed that Okoro was the one called for the foul compounded the situation.
"Yeah, it was a little scary," said Evan Mobley. "I was not expecting him to get the foul. I feel like he has a right to be on the floor if he's hurt."
It might go down as the shooting foul with the least motion by the offender in NBA history. And Okoro took two shots for it.
"I got hit everywhere," Okoro said.
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In a way, though, it all spurred a Cavs run. They were down 52-42 at the time before the electricity in the building compounded due to the anger resulting from the play and foul call. The Thunder went on to commit three traveling violations within a few minutes of each other, and Donovan Mitchell led a wild comeback in which the Cavs took the lead a few minutes later.
Cleveland went on to lose the game, but it was first moment of its kind this season.
"Yeah, just trying to rally around for our brother," Mitchell said. "He was on the ground and getting called for a foul while not moving on the floor for about 3 to 5 seconds, [which] is pretty crazy to me. But we rally around that. That's what we do. We fight for each other.
"Obviously the elbow wasn't intentional. It wasn't anything like that. But when your teammate's down, your guy's down, you go out there and do what's necessary to have his back. And he came back and continued to fight, and that's the type of guy he is."
Through Okoro's toughness, the Cavs rallied. It's the type of reaction to that kind of a moment the Cavs coaching staff hopes to see.
"We want to fight for our brothers on the court," Mobley said. "When a guy goes down like that, it definitely gives us a little boost and energy to come back and play with fire."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Cavaliers Isaac Okoro elbowed, stepped on in loss to Thunder
