Last night (Monday), the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the New Orleans Pelicans inside Quicken Loans Arena, resulting in a 90-82 come-from-behind victory for the home team. The Cavs, who suddenly find themselves bitten by the injury bug, were without several key players of their rotation, including Kyrie Irving (hamstring soreness), J.R. Smith (thumb fracture), Mike Dunleavy (ankle), and Chris Andersen (ACL).
With so many players out with injuries, the Cavs were only able to dress 10 men for Monday’s game. To make things worse, two of the players who did donn the Wine and Gold were suffering from illnesses.
Kevin Love, who exited Monday night’s game with 6:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, managed to log a productive 24 minutes (12 points and 11 rebounds), but is ailing from food poisoning. After Cleveland’s short-handed victory over the Pelicans, Cavs Head Coach Tyronn Lue announced that Kevin Love has lost 10 pounds over the last two days due to some bad sea-bass he had.
Dave McMenamin recants Coach Lue’s praise for Love’s effort in his recent article with ESPN.
He came out there and gave us 24 strong minutes, which we needed. He had 12 and 11 in those 24 minutes, but just his presence on the floor was big for us and for him to gut it out the way he did was big for us.”
Coach Lue also revealed that LeBron James, Cavs superstar small forward, has been dealing with “the sniffles,” as he stated in a post-win locker room. McMenamin reports that James left the arena carrying a bag of fluids and medicine. Despite his illness, James still managed to play well in Monday’s win, scoring 26 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one block in his 39 minutes of playing time.
James, who often talks about Cleveland’s “next man up” mentality, spoke to reporters before leaving The Q.
Can’t have any excuses no matter what’s going on with the team. Has to be next man up and when guys’ numbers are called they’ve got to be ready to go. As ugly as it was tonight, just got to find a way to get through it, and we did that.”
Channing Frye, Cavs stretch big man, is also under the weather, as McMenamin reports. Frye actually gave the Cavs a solid lift off the bench, recording 14 points (4-of-7 from beyond the arc), six rebounds, and two blocks in 25 minutes.
The Cavs will just have to keep that “next man up” mentality going as players recover from their respective issues. Although there is no official word yet, James, Irving, Love, Frye, and Dunleavy should all be considered questionable to play.
