Irving: Knee injury had nothing to do with minutes; 'It was just a freak play'
Last week, it seemed like a rift might be growing between Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Irving's camp was reportedly embroiled in simmering tensions with the Cavaliers concerning the state of the All-NBA point guard's ailing left knee. The Cavs publicly called the knee issue a bad case of tendinitis, but Irving's father and agent worried it might be more serious. They were concerned playing on a weakened knee could put him at risk of suffering a greater injury, and that Irving was being pressured to play through it.
Play through it he did, to the tune of 44 minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Irving played exceedingly well, and seemed to show few ill effects of the injury that had caused him to miss half the Conference Finals.
In overtime, though, an awkward play in which his knee got bumped by Warriors guard Klay Thompson left Irving with a fractured kneecap that will sideline him for three-to-four months.
Considering how prophetic Irving's camp was, one may expect the incident to drive an even bigger wedge between them and the organization.
Irving, though, was quick to dispel that notion when he addressed the media Wednesday, refusing to equate the injury with the intensive workload foisted upon him.
Kyrie Irving on his knee injury: "It was just a freak play." Says his heavy minute load had nothing to do with it.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 10, 2015
Whether his father and agent feel the same way is a different story, but at the least the Cavs have to be relieved to know Irving harbors no resentment over the way things were handled.
Meanwhile, Cleveland has improbably reeled off back-to-back wins without him, and sits just two wins away from the first championship in franchise history.