Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr. has been sidelined for five consecutive games. The Akron native suffered what the team is calling a “chest contusion” in a game against the Miami Heat on March 8. He was admittedly dealing with a fair amount of pain from the injury, but it sounds like he’s nearing a return.
According to a report from Chris Fedor of cleveland.com, Nance experienced pain each time he slept, sneezed, coughed or even bent over to grab his phone. Now, after a bit of recovery time, he says he’s feeling better, though it’s still not clear if he’ll be cleared for action:
“I hope so,” Nance told Fedor when asked if he expects to play versus the Bucks. “I went through shootaround and I feel great. That will be (Spiro’s) decision.”
Cavs head coach Larry Drew called on several players to fill Nance’s position when he left the rotation, including Kevin Love, Ante Zizic, Marquese Chriss and even Channing Frye. Cleveland went 2-3 over that five-game span.
Nance has made 56 appearances with the Cavs this season (24 starts), racking up averages of 9.1 points on 52.1 percent shooting from the field (35.2 percent from beyond the arc), 7.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals in 26.1 minutes per outing.
In other Cavs-related injury news, Tristan Thompson has been upgraded to questionable after missing 26 games due to foot soreness. Kevin Love, who landed hard on his backside during Monday night’s game against the Pistons, is also listed as questionable.
Wednesday night’s Cavs-Bucks game is scheduled to tip inside Quicken Loans Arena at 7:00 p.m. ET, with FOX Sports Ohio having live broadcast coverage.