NBA Wednesday: Cavaliers beat Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s final trip to Cleveland

Kidd-Gilchrist suffered the latest injury after taking a hard fall to the floor during a loose ball play against the Indiana Pacers last Wednesday. He left the game in the second half.

This will be Kidd-Gilchrist’s second surgery on his right shoulder this season. The forward also dislocated his shoulder -- along with suffering a partially torn labrum -- during one of the Hornets’ preseason games in October. That injury required surgery and kept the former No. 2 overall pick out of the lineup until the last seven games.

And that’s what makes the Celtics both interesting and worthy of skepticism. Sullinger had a huge game against the Clips with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes, despite battling foul trouble. Crowder had 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. Bradley recorded 18 points. Turner and Smart scored a combined 31 off the bench. There’s a bunch of talent, but no real go-to player beyond the 5’9 point guard.

The NBA is a superstar-driven league and it’s not going to be easy for a team like Boston to ultimately take on the juggernauts. Maybe the team is trying to put together a blockbuster before the trade deadline to bring in a big talent. But even so, the Celtics seem to be emerging a bit from the morass in the middle of the East standings, and they’re doing it by winning games against good teams.

NBA teams haven’t figured out many ways to stop opponents from intentionally fouling poor free throw shooters. They either let it happen, or take the player out of the game. Chris Paul has now devised a genius defense, at least for one play.

Jonas Jerebko was running full speed to go hack DeAndre Jordan. Paul was casually dribbling up the floor, but then he cut over to crash into Jerebko and draw the foul. Paul is an 89 percent free throw shooter while Jordan is only hitting 42 percent. That clever movement by Paul gave the Clippers a significant advantage. Of course, Paul only made one of two free throws, but it was still a clever move!

With Los Angeles down by double digits, things couldn’t get any worse for D’Angelo Russell and the Lakers, right? Wrong. They can get comically worse with the help of a laser pass from LeBron James.

Previously, we had Man Getting Hit by Tennis Ball. Russell now belongs in that company. It looked serious at first, especially considering that Manu Ginobili is out after testicular surgery, but Russell got back up and continued playing. So now we can laugh about it.

An ugly season for Phoenix’s Markieff Morris is about to get a whole lot uglier. The Suns’ forward shoved young guard Archie Goodwin during a timeout against the Warriors, including an unfortunate screen shot with his hands on Goodwin’s throat.

This is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Markieff Morris this season. He bristled when the Suns traded his brother in the offseason and demanded a trade, which the Suns did not accept. He has been in and out of the rotation all season and his effort has come and gone, though he has played hard for new coach Earl Watson.

When the Warriors get out on the fast break, it becomes must-see TV. On Tuesday, they executed a beautiful four-man fast break that was basketball poetry. They were back at it on Wednesday with Stephen Curry and Leandro Barbosa nearly combining for a stunning alley-oop.

Curry starts the sequence with a very nifty behind-the-back pass and that’s where it gets really fun. At first it looks like Barbosa’s shot is way off the mark. Then you realize he’s actually intentionally lobbing the ball off the backboard as a pass back to Curry. Only getting fouled kept Curry from finishing it on the other end.

The Cavaliers “do not believe Love’s shoulder injury to be major,” reports ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. GM David Griffin later said that Love suffered a “stinger” and the team hopes he won’t miss much time.

Love appeared to hurt his shoulder after making contact with an opposing player. The forward immediately began reacting in pain and walked off the court with his left arm hanging. Griffin could be seen following his star into the locker room.

Kawhi Leonard is one of the best active players in the NBA, but at times the former San Diego State Aztec takes a step back to let the other Spurs get into rhythm.

This wasn’t the case on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic. In the final seconds of the game with the score tied, Leonard decided to take over and drilled a long two-pointer for the win. Even after making the shot, he got prepared to reach for the rebound. When Kawhi wants to take over, he will.

Paul Pierce spent 15 seasons with the Boston Celtics. On Wednesday he was back in Boston as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers in what could potentially be his final game in Boston. He received a warm reception from Celtics fans. The treatment from his teammates was not nearly as nice!

Alright, so the Clippers were only pretending to attack Pierce. And while that still seems pretty strange, Pierce appeared to love every second of it. Maybe they were just loosening him up for this.

You could mention that Smart, a 6’4 point guard, probably shouldn’t have been stuck in that position, but let’s be fair: pretty much nobody stands a chance once you’ve let Jordan, who is listed at 6’11 and 265 pounds, build up momentum like that. It’s just simple physics, really.

“At that time, the Lakers had to do something. I was just losing faith in what they were trying to do. It was like I was a meal ticket,” Bryant told ESPN this week when asked about that time period. “You come out and score 40, 50 points, fill the seats, we’re going to keep the payroll at a minimum, generate revenue. It’s like, look, listen, I am not with that, dude. I have to win without Shaq. I’ve got to do it. We’ve got to do something.”

That’s when Kupchak decided to test his luck and give the Cavaliers a call.