According to a report from Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers are targeting next week for Tristan Thompson’s return.
In a game against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 1, Thompson, now 26 years of age, suffered a calf injury. As a result, the 6-10 rebounding machine was forced to miss 13 games. Initially, the Cavs, who are now on a nine-game winning streak, said he would be out of commission for three to four weeks.
In his eight games played for the Cavs this season, Thompson has turned in averages of 4.4 points on 57.7 percent shooting from the field and 6.4 rebounds — both career-lows.
With Thompson out of the lineup, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue was forced to slide Kevin Love to the center position — a role he’s becoming increasingly familiar with. So far, Lue’s strategy has worked well. Cleveland is playing much better on both ends of the floor, and opposing sides are having a hard time dealing with Love’s accuracy at range.
At one point in the early stages of this season, the Cavs were at or near the bottom of the barrel in several statistical categories — both offensive and defensive. Now, over the course of their winning streak, they’re averaging 111.6 points, a 38 percent mark from beyond the arc (80 percent from the free-throw line), and 23.1 assists per game. Furthermore, they’ve managed to outscore their opponents by an average of 10.6 points over that stretch. Needless to say, the Cavs have improved, despite having several players out of their rotation.
The Cavs will be back in action on Thursday night when they’ll face off against the Atlanta Hawks inside Philips Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST with Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Hawks having live broadcast coverage.
