Game 4 of the NBA Finals Gets Crazy as ZaZa Pachulia Punches Iman Shumpert In the Balls

OW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FiWGPbpSjM

The Cleveland Cavaliers won Game 4 of the NBA Finals, beating the Golden State Warriors pretty handily, 137-116. It wasn’t supposed to end up that way—the Warriors have been favored to steamroll right over the Cavs and pick up their second title with juice to spare. 

The solid Cavs win, however, was perhaps marred by some pretty weird moments in the game, few of them receiving more attention than the crotch punch heard round the world. 

The real news might have been a non-ejection of Draymond Green. The 6’7″ Warriors power forward was charged with a personal foul and then a technical foul. Only an error had been made and the tech was against Steve Kerr, the Warriors’ coach.

But right after that, a fight over a loose ball put Warriors center Zaza Pachulia on the floor and Cavs shooting guard Iman Shumpert made the tactical error of putting his junk within reach of a 6’11” man’s fist. As the GIF above demonstrates, a connection was made. 

Weirdly, neither man was ejected, merely given technical fouls. A fan did end up getting thrown out as teams scrambled and officials tried to figure out the best thing to do.

While the shot to Shumpert’s ‘nads was the most noted moment of the game, we’d be remiss if we didn’t make note of this stunning play by LeBron James, who casually decided to remind everyone just how he earned the title, “King.” Because damn, look at that.  

h/t CBS