Kyrie Irving has been playing this season with a list of nagging injuries, but just when it appeared that he would be able to tough it out in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, his knee gave way in the overtime period last night in Game 1. Cavaliers’ fans knew it was serious when ABC aired his excruciatingly painful walk back to the locker room, fearing the worst for the rising star.
Today, those fears were confirmed as Kyrie, the star point guard for the Cavs, was diagnosed with a fractured knee cap and the team announced that he would miss the rest of the Finals and would require surgery. The expected recovery time is three to four months.
Cavs announce Kyrie Irving has a fractured L kneecap and will have season-ending surgery.
Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 5, 2015
Kyrie posted this message on Instagram:
This is a devastating blow to the Cavaliers, who had an opportunity to steal Game 1 at Golden State last night. Now the team will have to re-adjust, most likely moving Matthew Dellavedova into the starting lineup for Game 2. While this is a major blow to the team, fans can remain hopeful as they have the best player on the planet leading the team, and after his performance last night (44 points on 18-38 shooting in 45 minutes), they still have reason to be optimistic.
While James’ performance was the talk of the game, and rightfully so, Tristan Thompson quietly led the team in minutes played with 47, amassing 15 rebounds but only 2 points.
With the loss of Kyrie, the Cavs will need more out of Tristan, JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and, if possible, more from King James.
Game 2 is tomorrow night.
