Cavs' De'Andre Hunter injured as refs miss blatant foul on Pacers body contact

Billy Heyen

Cavs' De'Andre Hunter injured as refs miss blatant foul on Pacers body contact image

De'Andre Hunter rose up for a right-handed flush.

The Cavs wing was met at the apex by the Pacers' Benedict Mathurin.

The first contact from Mathurin was firm left-handed contact to Hunter's chest, knocking him off balance.

Only after that did Mathurin make some clean contact with the basketball up top.

No foul was called, and when Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson challenged the call, the officials deemed it unsucessful.

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Worse for the Cavs was that Hunter landed hard and appeared to injure his right wrist.

He left the game and headed to the locker room, but quickly came back in.

So maybe he's OK, but those potential free throws that weren't to be could be crucial.

The Cavs most of the game as the Pacers tried to pull the Game 1 upset in Cleveland, and the officials didn't help the cause.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle