Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers have had about six days off since defeating the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 and capturing the Eastern Conference Championship last Tuesday. Irving has been limited throughout all of the practices, but according to David Blatt, Irving’s injuries to his foot and knee are not improving well enough.
David Blatt on Kyrie Irving's L knee tendinitis rehab between the conference finals and Finals: "His progress has been slow"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 1, 2015
Kyrie Irving took part in some of today's practice. David Blatt says he's still not himself yet.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) May 31, 2015
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Irving spoke about his knee and the importance of rest going into the biggest stage of his life.
“These days are very, very important for me, especially going to the Finals, I want to feel as close to my old self as I could,” Irving said. ‘Preparing for a great team like that you need as many days as you can.’
David Blatt talked about Irving’s injury with a concerning tone and his status for the Finals as of Monday.
“We’re hoping to help him to come into the series in the best possible way,” Blatt said. “He’s still not where he was prior to his foot and knee issues. Slowly but surely he’s making some progress.”
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“Progress has been slow,” said Blatt. “He’s not out of the woods entirely. He’s playing through it and has been doing a great job.”
Irving has another three days to improve and get as close to 100% as he can before the NBA Finals begin on June 4th in Oakland, CA. Kevin Love met with the media for the first time since suffering his season-ending shoulder injury and talked about Irving’s injury struggles.
“We had our talks, and nothing was truly about game plan or that sort of thing, but I just told him to keep his head up, he’s going to be back and he’s going to be fine,” Love said. “We have a good rest here. I don’t really know what he’ll be able to give us, but Kyrie’s the type of guy, and he’s said it to you guys before, no matter what it is he can give, he’s going to go out there and play hard.”
