The Cleveland Cavaliers will close out their five-game home stand with a matchup against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night, but they’ll be doing so without several key players due to injuries, including Kevin Love (hand), Tristan Thompson (ankle), and Jeff Green (lower back soreness). With his teammates ruled out, Cavs superstar LeBron James feels that Monday night’s game will be quite a test.
“We’re already not the biggest team in the league,” James said after Monday morning’s practice session at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “Without our starting front court — our four and five — it’s gonna be even more challenging for us to rebound. So myself, Larry (Nance Jr.) and I can imagine big Z is gonna get a little bit of playing time as well.
It’s gonna be a collective group of rebounding,” James continued. “And what better way to test yourself than with big (Andre) Drummond coming to town.”
The Cavs — now the 3rd-ranked team in the Eastern Conference standings with a 36-26 overall record — have lost two of their last three games, which includes a 126-117 set-back against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. James played 42 minutes in Saturday’s game, scoring 25 points on 8-19 shooting from the field (1-4 from beyond the arc), 15 assists, 10 rebounds, and two steals.
Love, who injured his left hand in January, was recently seen on the practice court with members of the Cavs’ coaching staff, but his 6-8 recovery time is still in place.
Thompson, who recently learned the sex of his baby with Khloe Kardashian, suffered a sprained right ankle in Saturday night’s loss to the Nuggets and will miss “multiple games,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Thompson stepped on the heel of a Nuggets player in the first half on Saturday. He went on to play 13 minutes in the second half — finishing the game with 12 points and seven rebounds — but experienced “significant swelling” overnight, according to the team.
Green is being held out of Monday’s game due to a bout of back soreness. MRI scans were taken over the weekend, but no structural damage was found. He’ll be listed as day-to-day for now.
With so many frontcourt players on their injury report, the Cavs have decided to recall Ante Zizic from the Canton Charge.
Monday night’s game is set to tip inside Quicken Loans Arena at 7:00 p.m. EST with FOX Sports Ohio and FOX Sports Detroit having live broadcast coverage.