Kyrie Irving won't use his foot strain as an excuse

Kyrie Irving is dealing with a strained right foot dating back to last week, but you won’t hear him making excuses.

With Kevin Love out, Iman Shumpert hobbled, and a 2-1 series deficit staring them in the face, the Cleveland Cavaliers needed Kyrie Irving at his absolute best last night in Game 3 against the Chicago Bulls. That’s not what they got, and as a result of inefficient performances from their two stars, the Cavs will enter Game 4 down a game and faced with a number of questions.

Kyrie Irving suffered through his worst performance of the playoffs last night, managing only 11 points on 3-13 shooting while failing to register a single assist. And with a rejuvenated Derrick Rose leading the charge for the Bulls, 11 points and 0 assists wouldn’t be enough. The Cavaliers fell to the Bulls 99-96 on an insane buzzer-beater from Rose, despite a productive but inefficient game from LeBron James (27 points, 14 assists, 8 rebounds, 8-25 shooting, 7 turnovers). To make matters worse, it looks like the injury bug that’s been wreaking havoc on the NBA may have struck again.

It was revealed after the game that Irving is suffering from a right foot injury dating back to the Cavs’ second round series with the Boston Celtics.”Look, we’re not talking about it, but Kyrie has been playing hurt,” coach David Blatt told reporters post game. “He’s showing a lot of courage, and he’s giving us everything he has. He played a terrific first two games and he’ll continue to do that, but today was a little but less of a successful game for him. He’s playing his heart out.”

Irving, for his part, refused to use his foot injury as an excuse. “I tried to get treatment on it, tried to stay ready to play,” he admitted. “But for me, I don’t make any excuses for myself, and for me to go out there, obviously, I was just trying to play through it best I can, and I’m still going to continue to do that. But, as I said before, there’s no excuses.”

“I know coach is trying to protect me with what he said, 3 for 13, that’s not like me. I’m not going to hang my head down on having a bad foot. I’m just going to continue to have that mindset to go out and compete for my brothers.”

While Irving remains adamant that his injury isn’t an excuse and that he’ll continue to compete despite it, his foot is now a storyline, whether he likes it or not. Thanks to the revelation of his injury, Irving’ play for the remainder of the postseason will be under a microscope. Between John Wall’s fractured wrist, Chris Paul’s hamstring, and now Irving’s foot, this has been a horrible stretch of point guard injuries (to be fair, Wall’s injury is on a different level). It will be interesting to see how Irving’s foot, and the extra attention placed on him because of it, affects him moving forward.

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Kyrie Irving won’t use his foot strain as an excuse

By Matt Graber | May 9, 2015

Kyrie Irving is dealing with a strained right foot dating back to last week, but you won’t hear him making excuses.

More from Cleveland Cavaliers