On Thursday night, the NBA’s defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Boston Celtics inside Quicken Loans Arena, resulting in a 124-118 victory for the home team. The Cavs jumped out to a big lead, but nearly lost it in the second half.
Late in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s bout in Cleveland, Kyrie Irving went down with what turned out to be a hamstring cramp. After making his way to the bench, the star point guard looked on as Boston continued to chip away at Cleveland’s lead.
Irving, hobbled but still feeling the need to help his teammates stem the Boston run, tried to make his way to the scorers table for a substitution in the closing phases of Thursday night’s game. However, Cavs Head Coach Tyronn Lue, obviously concerned about Irving’s gate, wasn’t about to allow him to further complicate any potential injury.
Tyronn Lue refuses to let an injured Kyrie Irving back into a tight game with under a minute left in the 4th. #Cavs #Celtics pic.twitter.com/pTlswAvl6U
— Cavs Nation TV (@CavsNationTV) December 31, 2016
Irving spoke to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after the win with regards to his status.
Just tightened up, that’s all. I took a spill with (LeBron James) in the first half. I threw a pass to Tristan (Thompson) in the middle (of the) lane, and me and Bron bumped knees. Then my calf started getting tight and my hammy started to get tight. I felt better coming out of the second half. Then when I did that last layup, it started to cramp up. That’s all.”
