Cavs’ Iman Shumpert leaves Game 3 with apparent left shoulder injury
The health of the Cleveland Cavaliers has been a major story throughout the 2015 postseason and especially in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Tied at 1-1 with the favored Golden State Warriors, the Cavs got more bad news early in Game 3 at Quicken Loans Arena.
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Starting shooting guard Iman Shumpert was forced to leave the court at the 4:52 mark of the first quarter after appearing to injure his left shoulder on a hard, legal screen from Warriors forward Draymond Green. You can take a look at the play here:
Shumpert immediately attempted to keep his left arm immobile while grimacing in pain. Cleveland called a timeout on their next offensive possession to get him out of the game, and he went back to the locker room at the subsequent break in the action.
The Cavs are already without starting point guard Kyrie Irving, who fractured his left knee cap in overtime of Thursday’s Game 1 and was declared out for the rest of the series the next day. While LeBron James carried the Cavaliers to a Game 2 win with solid defensive work from Matthew Dellavedova, Irving’s replacement in the starting lineup, it’s not clear if they can withstand any more injuries to major players. Head coach David Blatt employed a seven-man rotation in Game 2 and relied on Shumpert for 36 minutes as a key defender.
Shumpert previously dislocated his left shoulder on December 12 while still a member of the New York Knicks and sat for 20 games. He was traded to the Cavaliers during that absence but did not debut for the team until January 23. The fourth-year pro often covers the opponent’s best perimeter scorer and has spent considerable time on both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry this series.
Shumpert returned to the bench in the second quarter and re-entered the game near the halfway point of the period. The Cavaliers did not specify his injury.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
