Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving to have MRI on right shoulder

Cavaliers All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to miss Friday’s game, have MRI on his right shoulder.

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving left the game some time in the third quarter of Thursday night’s dominant 110-99 win over the team with the best record in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors.

More from Cleveland Cavaliers

When asked by sideline reporter Allie La Force during the break between the third and fourth quarter about Irving’s injury, Cavaliers head coach David Blatt was quite taken aback, “it’s a huge loss for us, both in this game and going forward.”

Not long after those comments were made by the Cavs’ head man, Irving returned from the locker room to the bench and was apparently given the thumbs up by the Cavaliers medical staff to continue playing.

He returned to action, and ended up playing 38 total minutes, despite Cleveland being able to coast for much of the second half, after building a 15-plus point lead early in the third quarter.

LeBron James was a big reason that the Cavaliers did not miss Irving too much, as he scored a season-high 42 points on an efficient night, shooting 15-25, including 4-9 from three-point range and 8-11 on free throw attempts.

Despite injuring his right shoulder, Irving managed 24 points, thanks in large part to a perfect 10-10 effort at the free throw line. That beating may help explain how he injured his shoulder.

There was no clear moment in the game for which Irving could definitively have injured the shoulder. But it was bad enough to keep Irving from the lineup for parts of the second half. And it will keep him from the Cleveland lineup on Friday.

He did not even make the trip with the team to Indianapolis, where Cleveland will play looking to continue their current four-game winning streak and a month of February in which they’ve lost just two games.

The Cavaliers are comfortably in first place in the Central Division and breathing down the neck of the Toronto Raptors for the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They enter Friday’s action just one game behind.

But the Cavaliers could be looking at the very loss Blatt expressed angst about Thursday night. Irving will have an MRI on his right shoulder Friday in Cleveland at the Cleveland Clinic Sports Health.

Irving, who made his second straight All-Star appearance in mid-February, is averaging 21.7 points per game with 5.2 assists and shooting a career best 40.4 percent from three-point range for the front-runners in the east.

More from FanSided