Fansided

NBA Playoffs: Locker room not confident that Kyrie Irving will play in Game 2

By Kyle Franzoni

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After missing the morning shootaround on Friday, the feeling is that Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving won’t play in Game 2 on Friday night.

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving has been dealing with lingering tendinitis in his left knee throughout the NBA Playoffs, and on Friday morning, that injury held him out of the morning shootaround with the team.  The team is officially labeling him as questionable for Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks.

Now, Bob Finnan of the News-Herald is reporting that those in the locker room are not confident that Irving will be able to go at all as the Cavs look to open up a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series against Atlanta.

Irving entered Friday night having averaged 18.9 points, 3.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game in the playoffs. However, Irving has been a much different player over the past two games. He played just 12 minutes and 10 seconds in the series clincher against the Chicago Bulls, contributing just six points and a single rebound in the game. He was a little stronger in the opener against the Hawks, going 27:19 while scoring 10 and throwing in six assists and three rebounds, but it was apparent that Irving was still not right on Wednesday night.

After Wednesday’s struggles, Irving was very candid with the media, telling Shaun Powell of NBA.com that “I just don’t have it right now.”

Given that the team ordered an MRI on Irving’s knee because of the worry for additional damage to the knee, this doesn’t bode well for a Cavaliers team that is already without power forward Kevin Love for the remainder of the postseason. Losing Kyrie Irving puts a larger share of the workload on Matthew Dellavedova, who exploded for 19 points in Game 7 against the Bulls, but was scoreless in 24 minutes on Wednesday.

Despite having a limited Irving in Game 1, the Cavaliers were able to hand the #1 seeded Hawks a 97-89 loss behind 31 points from LeBron James and 28 points from J.R. Smith, who went an incredible 8 for 12 from behind the three point arch. The Cavs will need to continue to ride the hot shooting hands of James and Smith if Irving is in fact unable to go.

The Hawks are also dealing with a knee injury of their own, with forward DeMarre Carroll’s left knee buckling late in Game 1. However, the MRI on Carroll found no structural damage and he is currently listed as day-to-day.

At the end of the day though, the fate of Kyrie Irving is much more important to the Cavaliers’ title hopes than the loss of Carroll to the Hawks. We’ll know more as we get closer to game time, but for now, things do not look good for Kyrie Irving.

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