Cleveland Cavaliers task gets tougher as Kyrie Irving fractures kneecap

Jay Asser 13:13 06/06/2015
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  • The game is up: Cleveland star Kyrie Irving limps out of the action during Game 1.

    The Cleveland Cavaliers odds of defeating the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals got considerably longer last night with confirmation starting point guard Kyrie Irving will be out for up to four months with a fractured kneecap.

    Irving missed the final two minutes of Thursday night’s 108-100 loss in overtime in Game 1 after injuring the same left knee, which is suffering from tendinitis, and caused him to miss Game 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

    It was initially thought Irving may just miss tomorrow night’s Game 2 at Oracle Arena but after undergoing an MRI scan the Cavs revealed he will need surgery and is out for the rest of the series. 

    The statement said: “His recovery time is projected to be three to four months and his status will be updated as appropriate.”

    The onus will now fall even more on LeBron James as the Cavs seek to win their first NBA championship. James scored 44 points in Game 1, but his overpowering performance wasn’t enough to stop the Warriors in Oakland.

    Golden State chose to defend James one-on-one most of the time and not send for extra help via double teams.

    That led to the four-time MVP finishing with a career-high  scoring mark in the Finals, but it also kept his supporting cast from getting involved. Aside from James’ 44 and Irving’s 23, Cleveland scored just 33 points and shot 11-of-34 from the field.

    “He made a lot of tough jumpers that were contested and we’ll live with him shooting a lot of shots and scoring 40 because we feel like a lot of guys who are key to them winning a series don’t get touches and don’t get going,” Golden State centre Andrew Bogut said of James.

    The Cavaliers built an early 13-point lead in the first quarter while Golden State were trying to find rhythm offensively, but  once the Warriors’ offence picked up, neither team created much separation as the lead changed 13 times.

    Where Golden State pulled away was in overtime with their deadly small-ball line-up. After sticking with Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights in regulation, Kerr finally broke out his ace in the hole.

    Once Harrison Barnes replaced Ezeli and Draymond Green took over at centre with 3:16 remaining in the extra frame, the Warriors outscored Cleveland 8-2, with the lone Cavaliers score coming on an uncontested James layup in the waning seconds.

    Even with Golden State’s bench outscoring the Cavaliers 34-9 and the rebounding edge 48-45 in favour of the Warriors, Cleveland had a chance to steal one on the road in the final possession of regulation.

    James’ jumper missed the mark, otherwise the scales would have tipped in the opposite direction. 

    “At the end of the day, people, it was a one‑shot game,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. “You’re there in the first game of the NBA Finals on an away floor, and we were in position to win that game.”

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