With 18 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 120-112 victory over Toronto, small forward LeBron James was driving down the middle of the lane when Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas grabbed him from around the shoulders and tackled him to the ground.
After taking James down to the court, Valanciunas extended a hand to help him back up, but James quickly shrugged off the attempt at sportsmanship. The referees then reviewed the play and administered a flagrant one foul to Valanciunas.
"There's a lot of plays that just aren't basketball plays, but the referees take care of it and decide what it is or not, that's what we've got rules for," James said. "I have to maintain my focus and understand how important the game is, but at the same time, protect myself as well.
"You have to understand the game is more important than trying to deliver a hard foul. At that point, we all know everyone is looking for the reaction. It's the old elementary school house rule that the second guy always gets caught, so you just relax and play the game."
Valanciunas' hard foul on Wednesday came on the heels of another on Sunday when James was kicked below the belt by Houston guard James Harden after scrambling for possession of the basketball. Although assessed a flagrant one foul at the time, Harden was suspended for a game at Atlanta after league officials reviewed and upgraded the call to a flagrant two, which would have been accompanied by an ejection.
"I don't think it's something new. I think that's been going on for years," Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. "Because LeBron is so powerful and so aggressive and so strong, a lot of stuff happens to him that go either unnoticed or unaddressed. Then, there's things that happen that seem to take on less of an impact because it's LeBron James, the powerful, strong, attacking player that he is. I thought tonight the refs reviewed it. They addressed that foul properly. I'm not sure all of the fouls that he sustained are necessarily addressed properly.
"The league has to address that. They have to address that, and they did. That's why there are people in positions to evaluate and to make the right decisions to keep our game sportsmanlike and fair. There's going to be a level of physicality in every game, but you never want that stuff to get out of hand, and it has to get handled."
In his postgame press conference with the Toronto media, Valanciunas explained his job was solely to protect the rim and that it was not his intent to cause injury.
"I wasn't trying to hurt him," Valanciunas said. "I was just trying to stop him from dunking the ball. Protecting the rim, that's it. Nothing personal. I was just doing my job. I've got to protect the rim. It doesn't matter how. I wasn't trying to get somebody's attention.
"An easy foul is not going to work for him. I've got to protect the rim. It doesn't matter if it's LeBron James or somebody else, I've still got to protect the rim."
Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has noticed an increased level of physicality toward James and the entire team over the last three weeks.
"Teams want to beat us, and there's an edginess to most games," Love said. "You could see it was getting a little chippy out there really since the All-Star Break, so we're just continuing to play physical, continuing to play our game and that kind of dictates how we play on both ends."
Newly acquired center Kendrick Perkins was more succinct with his opinion of the play.
"There's a time and place you can get one off," Perkins said of retaliation. "You just have to make sure it's the right time, but at the end of the day, you just try and go out there and play basketball. It's a physical game and obviously, he was trying to send a message because he'd been getting beat out there in pick-and-roll, but it's just bull----. It ain't cool."
