Last night, the NBA’s defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers faced a shorthanded Atlanta Hawks team inside Quicken Loans Arena. After a hard fought battle through three quarters of play, the Hawks managed to pull away in the final period. When the final horn blew, the Cavs were defeated, 114-100.
There were several contributing factors to Cleveland’s embarrassing loss, including poor shooting (9-of-36 from beyond the arc), a shoddy bench performance (55-21 in favor of Atlanta), and a quietly scorned Mike Dunleavy, who torched the Cavs for 20 points (4-of-5 from three-point land) in just 20 minutes of playing time.
During the third quarter of last night’s game, Cavs fans watched in horror as Kyrie Irving made his way to the locker room with team physicians. After a brief examination, Irving jogged back to the bench. “Uncle Drew,” as Irving is affectionately known amongst his fans and followers, recorded 18 points (8-of-13 from the field), seven assists, and one rebound in last night’s loss to Atlanta. According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, Irving has been dealing with pain in his surgically-repaired knee since Thursday.
“I mean, it’s never easy, even the year after, just to realize that you have plates and screws in your knee and stuff like that,” Irving said after last night’s game.
“It’s just, I don’t want it to feel sore anymore, but it’s just the realization of it,” Irving continued. “I’m doing everything possible to take care of my body, I’ve got a clear conscience with that. But also understand that sometimes it’s gonna hurt. And I gotta be able to deal with it. So, the next few days are pretty important. Tomorrow and then playing in Atlanta and Miami, and then just doing everything possible to prepare.”
In his closing statements, Irving, a fierce competitor, seemed to be a bit angry about his knee flare up. In fact, the crafty ball-handler accidentally dropped a rare “F-Bomb” in his live post-game interview.
“I just did my best all of yesterday just trying to recover and do everything possible,” Irving said. “I had a great chance of playing at a high level, and then after halftime it just (expletive) flared up. Excuse my language, sorry. I’ll be alright.”
Earlier this week, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue stated that he would like to play his star players down the stretch of the regular season’s end. Now, with Irving having minor knee issues, that plan could change.
“I don’t know,” Lue said when asked if his plans would change. “I’ve got to see how they feel. I know ‘Bron wanted this one pretty bad and he didn’t want to come out of the game. He said, ‘This is big, we need this one.’ I don’t know if guys were tired. I just know we didn’t respect those guys.”
The Cavs, who are currently leading the Boston Celtics by one full game in the Eastern Conference standings, will face the Hawks again on Sunday in a matinee showdown. Whether or not Irving will play is still unclear.