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Kyrie Irving day-to-day with shoulder strain, out Friday

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to remain the league's hottest and most terrifying team on Friday and they'll look to do so without point guard Kyrie Irving.

Irving will miss Friday's game against the Indiana Pacers due to a left shoulder strain, the team announced. Irving injured the shoulder in the team's Thursday victory and did not travel with the team in order to hang back in Cleveland and undergo an MRI.

The Cavs will update Irving's status once again ahead of their Sunday tilt with the Houston Rockets.

The occasionally fragile Irving has missed only three games this season and leads the NBA in total minutes played with 2,091. In 56 games, he's averaging 21.7 points and 5.2 assists, shooting 40.4 percent from long range and posting a well-above-average player efficiency rating of 21, right in line with his career marks.

That's actually slightly disappointing considering he's had an appreciable drop in usage rate, something that normally comes with an uptick in efficiency. It seems playing alongisde LeBron James hasn't made Irving any more efficient on the offensive end, he's just doing his thing over slightly fewer possessions.

That's not to say he hasn't been effective, because he has. When he and James take the floor together, the Cavs outscore opponents by 11.7 points per-100 possessions, better than either of their marks as individuals.

Irving's absence will leave Cleveland a little short at the point and could mean a starting assignment for Iman Shumpert, who has helped key the team's turnaround on defense over the last 20 games. Matthew Dellavedova could also see extended run.

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