Cavs' Irving (hip) leaves as precaution at half
CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving exited the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 109-97 win over the Detroit Pistons with right hip tightness at halftime and did not return as a precautionary measure.
Irving sat out the Cavs’ previous two games to rest the hip. However, Cavs coach David Blatt said at the time that his All-Star point guard could have played if it was a playoff game.
“He experienced tightness at the end of the first half, and as soon as we saw that, we sat him down for the second half,” Blatt said after the game. “Not serious, but something that we need to be cautious about. And therein the reason that he did not play yesterday or Friday. Simple as that. No other plan that was in place for that except that we’re trying to make sure everyone is healthy come playoff time. He should be OK.”
The four-year veteran finished with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, three rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes against the Pistons. He did not speak to reporters after the game.
Irving is averaging 22 points, 5.2 assists and 1.5 steals on the season, and shooting a team-high 41.4 percent from 3.
Cleveland closes out the regular season at home against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, and Blatt said he’d like to play Irving in that game if he responds well to treatment.
“I’d like to get him out there and play some,” Blatt said. “Certainly not to overplay him, but if he can’t, he can’t.”
Blatt said before the Detroit game that he hoped to play “everybody, more or less” against Washington, but with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs already locked up, there will be no pressing need to play Irving on Wednesday.
“Hey, we want to be healthy going into the postseason,” LeBron James said. “If [Irving] has something that’s nagging him right now, the postseason starts this weekend, so he has a week or less than to get that feeling as close to 100 percent as possible. Now, obviously, no one can get to 100 percent. We all have nagging injuries, but you want to try to feel as good as you can going into the postseason, and that’s the only thing that matters.”
James said he was “not sure” whether he would sit out against the Wizards but would determine, along with the coaching and training staff, whether or not to rest after going in for treatment Tuesday.
“Today I’m very comfortable with going into the weekend [and the start of the playoffs],” James said. “We have some nagging injuries, which is OK. Every team in the NBA that’s in the top 16 teams that will go into the postseason [have them]. … I feel pretty good.”
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