Game 5 of the NBA Finals wasn’t very kind to Cleveland’s resident Russian Hercules, Timofey Mozgov.
While the Cavaliers were shooting around some 15 minutes prior to tip-off of the 5th installment of their series against the Golden State Warriors, ABC’s broadcast caught the 7-foot center taking a rogue basketball right square in the noggin.
LOL Mozgov took a ball to the face duing shoot-arounds, https://t.co/zXWYZaGQc3
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 14, 2015
It turned out to be an ominous sign for how the rest of the evening would go for Mozgov. Though the Cavs have been at their best this series when they’ve gone big and despite the fact that the Russian was coming off the performance of a lifetime in Game 4 (a mammoth 28-point, 10-rebound effort), Cleveland head coach David Blatt turned away from Mozgov in Game 5, benching him for all but 9 minutes in what ultimately was a crushing 104-91 Cavaliers defeat to give the Warriors a 3-2 series lead.
The few minutes where the Russian wasn’t riding the bench were nothing to write home about either. Mozgov was held scoreless on the evening, missing his only field goal attempt, while picking up a steal, two turnovers, and two personal fouls, with no other stats to his credit. Oh yeah, and Harrison Barnes consumed part of his soul.
Though Mozgov’s presence in the game probably wouldn’t have done much to stop Stephen Curry from going supernova from beyond the arc, it seems like a pretty good bet that the 7-footer is going to be listening to Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” as he rocks himself to sleep tonight.
Image via CBS Sports NBA
