Kyrie Irving had eight days to rest his left knee and sprained right foot after the Cavs swept the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Although his progress was slow, Irving seemed to be headed in the right direction.
Unfortunately, Irving suffered another injury to the left knee during the overtime session of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, this being his third time injuring it. With the shot-clock winding down in the overtime session, Irving drove past Klay Thompson, but slipped, bumped knees with him, and limped his way back up the floor until the stoppage in play.
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Here’s the play that Irving injured himself on:
Irving had played exceptionally well considering all the question marks about his status ahead of tonight’s game. Irving finished with the phenomenal stat line of 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, and two blocks in 34 minutes of action.
As of Thursday night, nothing has been confirmed, but the team’s doctors’ initially said that Irving had no ACL/MCL tear, but the MRI will help clear things up for Irving and the Cavs.
After the game, Irving spoke with reporters about how his knee was feeling and his questionable status for Game 2.
“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.”
According to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Kyrie Irving is scheduled to have an MRI sometime Friday to figure out what exactly the issue with Irving’s knee. Haynes also reported That Irving could not exit the arena without crutches, which isn’t a great sign in regards to his availability.
Evidence pic.twitter.com/eNgRPnB194
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 5, 2015
Kyrie Irving is exiting the arena on crutches.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 5, 2015
Sam Amico of Fox Sports tweeted out his own personal thoughts on the injury. We should note again that nothing has been confirmed, but Amico has spent a lot of time around Irving in the Cavs this season.
Getting the sense that Cavs believe Kyrie Irving (knee) is done for Finals. Not official, just a vibe. Again, MRI is Friday.
— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) June 5, 2015
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David Blatt gave his own opinion on Irving’s injury after the game.
David Blatt said he believes it was a non-contact injury for Kyrie Irving. The aggravation did not come from colliding with Harrison Barnes
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 5, 2015
When asked about his initial thoughts and level of concern for Irving, who’s been struggling with injuries this whole postseason
“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.”
Stay tuned for more on the Cavs as we’ll break the news to you tomorrow.
