Kyrie Irving Injury Update: Cavs guard out for Game 3

The Cleveland Cavaliers need a win in Game 3 to start closing out the Atlanta Hawks, but Kyrie Irving will not play a role in that.

UPDATE [7:47pm ET] — Kyrie Irving has been ruled out for Game 3 against the Hawks, which might end up being a blessing in disguise.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Kevin Love in the first-round of the playoffs this season, it looked like they had been bitten badly by the injury bug. As the Atlanta Hawks can tell you, there was worse things that could have happened to the Cavaliers, but they’re not a team out of the woods yet.

Irving missed Game 2 on Thursday night against the Hawks and hasn’t really been a factor for the Cavaliers since Game 5 of the Conference Semifinals against the Chicago Bulls. The big question moving forward is whether or not he’ll factor into the game plan for Game 3 and beyond of Cleveland.

Originally, it was reported that Kyrie Irving was a game-time decision for Game 3 against the Hawks.

Not having Kyrie Irving makes the Cavalies a less dangerous team, but they’re a banged up unit playing against a broken squad on the other side of the court. The Hawks have lost Thabo Sefolosha, Al Horford, Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll to injuries in the past month and two of those players are not coming back for this series.

Cleveland can taste the NBA Finals, but they’re not there yet. The Hawks can come back in this series, but having Kyrie Irving there could take a load of stress off everyone — but he needs to come back healthy.

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