Cleveland Cavaliers star point guard Kyrie Irving had a terrific game 1 against the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 NBA Finals. Irving came into the series injured but played 44 minutes scoring 23 points on 10-22 shooting while grabbing 7 rebounds, handing out 6 assists, 4 steals and 2 big blocks. It seems that the extra minutes and the overtime period may have been too much for Irving.
Kyrie left game 1 in overtime with an apparent knee injury and he didn’t return to the game. He left the game frustrated, ripping off his jersey and having a disturbingly sad postgame interview in the Cavs locker room to add onto the Cavs loss in game 1.
Now it appears that we know the extent of Irving’s injury. Following from an official Cavaliers press release.
Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving left last night’s NBA Finals game one in the overtime period with a left knee injury. He received an MRI today at Stanford Sports Medicine Clinic, which revealed a fractured left knee cap. He will have surgery to repair the knee in the coming days at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland by Cavaliers head team physician Dr. Richard Parker. His recovery time is projected to be three to four months and his status will be updated as appropriate.
Irving has battled injuries throughout the whole playoffs and his knee issues have been highly talked about, especially from his camp. His agent and father have expressed issues with the Cavs about Irving’s knee issues for weeks now and this just puts more attention on his playoff injury woes.
Without Irving for the remainder of the NBA Finals, it’s all on LeBron to shine and make those around him look great. There’s no Kevin Love or Kyrie Irving to bail him out. He’ll be relying on Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova to help him fight of the Warriors.
