After locking up the number one overall seed by defeating the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, it was a weight off the Cleveland Cavaliers shoulders. The Raptors, who had closed in on them and gotten within a game of the number one spot, tried to put a scare in the Cavs late to no avail.
The Cavs will now face off against the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs, but before that begins this weekend, they’ll coincidentally face the Pistons tonight in the final game of the regular season.
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While everyone was highly expected to rest, Dave McMenamin of ESPN took a shot of the injury report tonight. Notice who’s not on there?
The Cavs have made a change to their rest plans tonight. Kyrie Irving will play against Detroit pic.twitter.com/dbjvtTts9m
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 13, 2016
That’s right, apparently, Kyrie Irving will play and start in tonight’s regular season finale. Maybe Irving wanted another game to stay in a rhythm, or maybe coach Tyronn Lue wants to see what Irving can do with the second unit for an entire game, which is the more likely of the two. Irving has not been able to lead the second unit when he starts the second and fourth quarters, which has been a major issue for the Cavs and has created an inability to hold leads.
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Either way, it’s a bit of a risk, and Irving likely won’t play heavy minutes with the very important postseason starting this weekend.
