“Obviously you can see in the tone of my voice I’m a little bit worried.”
That’s what Kyrie Irving said about his knee injury to a group of reporters just after Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and his suspicion became a worst-case scenario on Friday when the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that the point guard would miss the remainder of the games after an MRI revealed a fractured left kneecap. More from NBA.com:
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 took to Instagram to express his emotions after the devastating announcement:
The injury obviously hurts the Cavaliers. Irving had been very productive this postseason, averaging 19 points – second best on the team – to go with 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 35.7 minutes. The Cavaliers are 3-6 without him this season, and the Golden State Warriors outscored them by 13 points with him off the floor in Game 1.
As for Irving’s long-term health, his camp is less than thrilled with how the Cavaliers handled the young point guard’s situation even before this devastating injury, from Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
Drederick, Wechsler and several of Irving’s friends gathered outside the Cavs locker room and began talking with emotion about the situation. Wechsler pulled Cavs general manager David Griffin aside to discuss it.
There’s been some tension between these two sides for weeks now. Irving’s father and Wechsler, sources said, have been preaching caution with Irving and this knee issue. Naturally, they are focused on his long-term health and have concern that playing on a weakened knee — what the Cavs have said publicly was a bad case of tendinitis — could put him at risk of suffering a greater injury. Going to see Andrews was part of the entire group’s efforts to get a full handle on what Irving was facing and get independent advice on the situation.
Of course on the other side, the Cavs want Irving to play as long as he’s not seriously hurt. As Irving was limping through the start of the conference finals against the Hawks, it was easy to identify some mild friction. As Irving was preparing to get a second opinion, there was a sense he was being challenged to play through it.
It was a tricky situation to deal with, given that there was no certainty on just how bad Irving’s knee injury from the semifinals was to begin with. He looked tremendous in Game 1 on Thursday and showed no ill-effects of a knee injury, so it would have been a controversial decision at best to play him less minutes just to be on the safe side.
Where do Cavs go from here after Irving injury and Game two loss?
With Irving now out, the Cavs will turn to Australian point guard Matthew Dellavedova to start. Dellavedova started two games in the Eastern Conference Finals and helped the team win both contests.
Dellavedova, who is a bit of a rabble-rouser, was a key defensive piece during the Bulls series. He caused a game two ejection of Bulls forward Taj Gibson after Dellavedova preceded to lock up Gibson’s leg with his. Along with his defensive contribution on point guard Derrick Rose, the Aussie hit big shots throughout that series.
Dellavedova would carry the same attitude into the Atlanta series, as many thought Hawks’ guard Kyle Korver’s season-ending injury was caused by the Cavs guard. The next game Dellavedova caused center Al Horford to be ejected. The Hawks’ All-Star took exception to what he thought was a dirty play from Dellavedova after the Cavs guard went after a loose ball hitting Horford around the knee area. Horford retaliated with an elbow to the back of Dellavedova’s head.
With all indications pointing to Dellavedova starting for Cleveland, the former St. Mary’s guard will have to show the same level of intensity in this series. He’ll be guarding 2015 Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, who is coming off a 26-point performance Thursday night, while handing out eight assists in the process.
Dellavedova is averaging 6.5 points and 2.7 assists during the postseason and will looked upon to contribute more.
Look to guard JR Smith to having an even bigger role in game two. Smith played 34 minutes in game one and shot 3-13 from the field, scoring nine points. The Cavs can’t afford for him to have another performance like that.
With the second-leading scorer on the team done for the series, Smith will most likely be the second scoring option for the team.
Cleveland staring center Timofey Mozgov added 16 points on 5-10 shooting and forward Tristan Thompson added 15 rebounds. Guard Iman Shumpert shot 2-6 from the field but played his part on defense by getting four steals.
The starters did their jobs in game one. The problem was the bench was M.I.A and the team didn’t do much when All-NBA forward LeBron James and Irving wasn’t on the floor. The Cavs were outscored by five points in the seven-plus minutes the star forward rested and another 13 points while Irving was not in the game.
The Cavs will need more production from the bench. Smith scored all nine of the Cavs bench points, while the Warriors had five guys score theirs. Golden State forward Andre Iguodala led the way off the bench with 15, while forward/center Marreese Speights shot 50 percent from the field, scoring eight points.
The two teams go back at it in game 2 Sunday in Golden State.
Iverson says he wasn’t drunk during famed practice rant
Twenty-two. That’s the number of times Allen Iverson once repeated the phrase “we’re talking about practice“. While most simply remember it as one of the most memorable rants ever provided during a media session, a new book written by Kent Babb put some strong context on what really happened that day, claiming the former superstar was actually drunk while making that speech.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith spoke with Iverson about the matter, however, and vehemently denied Babb’s claim on the guard’s behalf:
In a conversation with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that he relayed on “First Take,”Allen Iverson denied being drunk during his 2002 “practice” rant.
“This is a flat-out lie,” Smith said Friday on “First Take.” “Allen Iverson was not drunk the day he had that press conference about practice.”
Smith said he spoke to the former Philadelphia 76ers star for 45 minutes Friday morning, and Smith said Iverson rebutted the claim that he was drunk during the news conference in which repeated the phrase “we’re talking about practice” 22 times.
The allegation comes from a new book about Iverson that was published this week. Journalist Kent Babb, author of “Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson,” interviewed former team officials and reporters who were present for the news conference. In the book, Babb wrote, “Some were entertained, and others watched the train wreck unfold — knowing from experience that Iverson was drunk.”
According to Smith, Iverson said he was “being lied on” and was firm in his denial of Babb’s claim.
Iverson retired in 2013 and said then if he could take back that moment, he wouldn’t.
Other News From Around the League:
- Emmanuel Mudiay, NBA prospect and potential top-5 pick in this upcoming draft, will work out for the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday in El Segundo. The Lakers have the No. 2 pick in the draft. Mudiay is also think about visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota has the No. 1 pick.
- The Toronto Raptors are in talks with former player Jerry Stackhouse to join the coaching staff, according to Doug Smith of The Star: “The former player has already been in Toronto to chat with Raptors officials as the search for people to replace the departed Bill Bayno and Tom Sterner. It’s not a done deal by any stretch, I was cautioned, but there is a Dallas connection between Stackhouse and Casey and Stackhouse strikes me as just the kind of tough, “I don’t give a crap” kind of long-serving former player who might be able to show the likes of DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross some tricks of the trade.”
- Embattled and former Houston Rockets first round pick Royce White is close to a Summer League commitment with the Los Angeles Clippers, according to Shams Charania of RealGM: “White has considered interest from several organizations, including the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans, but gained trust with the Clippers’ front office through dialogue with brass members. White is nearing a commitment to the Clippers, but the 6-foot-8 forward will stay away from signing any sort of free-agent deal in order to showcase himself for the NBA’s other 29 teams. He has spent the year training in Minnesota with trainer Chris Carr.”
- The Denver Nuggets will soon interview Don Newman for the head coaching position, from Charania of RealGM: “The Denver Nuggets received permission to interview Washington Wizards assistant Don Newman and discussed the franchise’s vacant head coaching job with him in the past week, league sources told RealGM. Newman’s 16 NBA seasons as an assistant coach — including an eight-year stint with the San Antonio Spurs where he developed strong defensive principles and closely worked with Tim Duncan — give him the credibility to discuss a head coaching position. Since joining Randy Wittman’s staff in 2012, Newman has served as the architect of an improved Wizards’ defense.”
- Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce plans to make a decision on his future soon, according to Dan Steinberg of Washington Post: “Pierce told hosts Ben Lyons and Ryan Duffy on “The Players Tribune” show that he’ll be making his decision in the next couple of weeks, but when asked about the end of this season, he sure sounded like a Washington Wizard. “Man, it was a good run,” Pierce began. “We really have a really good young team, and a couple budding superstars. It was tough. It especially really hurt us when John [Wall] broke his hand. Even though he came back, that really kind of hurt our rhythm, because we [were] playing so well. We felt like we were the better team if we had stayed healthy, but we lost some heartbreaking games.”
Odus Evbagharu is a blogger for Sheridan Hoops and you can follow him on twitter: @iamodus_
