Guard Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers sat out Saturday’s practice session to rest and his status remains uncertain for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks.
Cavs coach David Blatt said Irving received treatment on his sore left knee and his right foot strain.
Irving on Friday visited with team doctors for re-evaluation on his left knee, which he aggravated in the second quarter of Cleveland’s 94-73 closeout victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night. The Cavaliers won the best-of-seven series in six games.
“He’s going through a lot of treatment, and we’re monitoring and just hoping that he progresses from here until game time,” Blatt said Saturday of his All-Star point guard.
Blatt said Irving’s status is uncertain for Wednesday’s start of the conference finals.
“For sure, no,” Blatt said. “But we hope so.”
Blatt said there is a possibility that Irving could concentrate on rehabilitation and not practice until Wednesday.
“He’s going through a lot of treatment,” Blatt said. “We’re monitoring and just hoping that he progresses.”
Cavaliers star forward LeBron James said the team can take advantage of the days off between the second round and the conference finals.
“It goes without saying that we’re banged up right now,” James said Saturday. “One of our best players (Kevin Love) is out for the season. Our All-Star point guard has been banged up since Game 2 of the Boston series. You see a guy like Tristan (Thompson), a guy who hasn’t missed a game in 19 years, probably since he’s been born, falls on his shoulder like that, you kind of get a little scared about it.
“Then myself, I have my nicks and bruises throughout the season and also in the postseason. Then you have Shump (Iman Shumpert), who has a partially banged-up groin that he’s playing with.”
Thompson was able to practice with his bruised left shoulder Saturday. So was Shumpert.
After using Friday to take a break from the stress of the playoffs, James said preparation for the Hawks will begin Sunday.
“I’ll lock in tomorrow and be ready for the next series,” James said. “Yesterday I took the day off. I did absolutely nothing but play with my kids, did whatever they wanted to do yesterday, including basketball, which I did not want to do, but they made me go out there on the court. Today I was able to get some work in, but I’m not where I would like to be.”