This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Trey Lyles hit some huge shots Monday night against the Cavaliers. But he says the one he landed on Cleveland's Channing Frye was unintentional.
Lyles, the Jazz's power forward, was tossed in the fourth quarter of his team's win over Cleveland after being assessed a flagrant 2 for elbowing Frye in the groin. The incident caused a dustup between the veteran and the rookie and, ultimately, resulted in both men leaving the game early.
"Not at all," Lyles said when asked if he had meant to hit Frye. "I don't think it was intentional at all, what he did or what I did. But it's how the game goes. We get into and tempers flare here and there. It's nothing too big."
Prior to that moment, Lyles had been instrumental in the Jazz's fourth-quarter surge against the East's top team. The 20-year-old scored 10 points in the period, hitting on four of his six attempts. Then, late in the period, Lyles found himself being defended closely by Frye and appeared to be trying to clear space between them when his elbow hit the Cavs forward below the belt.
Frye took exception and twice butted heads with Lyles.
"Those things sometimes happen," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who had not seen a replay of the incident when he spoke to reporters after the game. "We get pressured a lot at the elbows and guys try to pivot and get free. I don't know if he hit him. It sounds like he hit him. I don't feel like it was intentional. Obviously you understand Channing Frye's reaction. It's one of those things that happens when guys compete. But like I said, I haven't watched it."
Play stopped for several minutes as the referees reviewed the incident over and over.
"It's tough but both teams are sitting there waiting to see what's going to transpire," Cavs forward Kevin Love said of the lengthy delay. "I'd seen early on the play Channing get hit. I saw the play at a distance and he got hit again. You have to protect yourself sometimes in this league. And that case, he did and he paid the price and already had a technical from earlier in the game which was costly for him and us because he's been playing very well. Those kind of things happen throughout the season."
In the end, Frye, who had picked up a technical foul earlier in the game for saying something to an official, was given a second technical foul and ejected. Lyles was ejected after being assessed a flagrant foul 2.
"I mean, we're all men out there," Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving said of the incident. "That's just a rook going at Channing and they got into it. It's part of the game. Competitive juices going. That's about it."
Lyles earned an ovation from the home crowd for refusing to back down to the elder Frye and the rookie high fived fans as he left for the locker room.
"You got to stand your own ground," he said. "Lucky for us we were able to go out there and get the win. That's all that matters."
Lyles said he was surprised that his foul was ruled a flagrant 2.
"I was a little surprised, but it's all right. If they deemed it that way, that's fine. I'm just glad we won."
— Aaron Falk