Kyrie Irving and the Cavs suffered another left knee injury, this time during Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Irving drove by Klay Thompson in the overtime session, but slipped and bumped knees with Thompson, causing him to fall to the floor. Irving kicked the ball out to J.R. Smith, who missed the three pointer, but Kyrie limped back up the floor before the Cavs committed a foul. After the timeout that was called, Irving was shown limping into the locker room again, clearly in pain:
RELATED: Cavs were not Optimistic about Irving’s Status After Game 1 Injury
After the game, Irving was clearly disappointed and voiced his concern about the knee.
Chris Haynes | NEOMG
“I don’t know what I felt, but obviously, it didn’t feel right. It was a little bit different than what I had been experiencing in the Chicago series or anything like that. It was just a quick pinch and I could still feel what was going on in my knee and this time… This time, I knew… it was a little bit different than the other times.”
“Your body works in mysterious ways, and when something gives out… Obviously you can tell I’m a little worried, it’s just a natural reason to just make sure everything is okay, so I’m gonna take the necessary steps in order to see what’s going on.”
Irving received an MRI on Friday afternoon, which revealed that he has a fractured left kneecap, and will be out a total of 3-4 months. Surgery is in his immediate future.
Cavs just announced fractured knee cap for Kyrie Irving that will require surgery
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 5, 2015
RELATED: Kyrie Irving Dealing With Left Knee Tendinitis Aside From Sore Right Foot
Cavs announce Kyrie Irving has a fractured L kneecap and will have season-ending surgery.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 5, 2015
This will really make it difficult for the Cavs to defeat the Warriors in these NBA Finals. The Cavs say that Irving’s left knee tendinitis is not related to his knee fracture. LeBron said after the game that it was tough to see Irving like this.
“It was very tough to see. I just see how hard he worked these last eight days just to get himself in position ready to play at this level tonight. Seeing him walk out of the locker room on crutches just now, that’s a tough blow for our team.”
In his stead, Matthew Dellavedova will be manning the point guard spot for the Cavs, and the bench gets even thinner. Cleveland has a tough task ahead, but if LeBron and the Cavs play like their did in the Conference Finals, they’ll give themselves a fighting chance.