This was probably not the way the Cavaliers hoped 2013 ended. Fortunately, Cavaliers and NBA fans can breath a deep sigh of relief to start their new year.
During the Cavs-Pacers New Year's Eve game, All-Star guard Kyrie Irving went down with a non-contact injury to his left knee. And it is these type of non-contact injuries which are the scariest for players.
Asked what he thought had happened, Irving said,
“I thought the worst had happened. Just a routine play, just felt something pop in my knee a little bit. I just had to come out of the game. My left knee is pretty weak right now. When I came back in I was falling all over the place. I didn’t have my legs under me. I’m going to get an MRI [Wednesday] and hope for the best, honestly.
…The doc gave me the OK to go back out there, but when I went back out there, I still didn’t feel right. so get an MRI tomorrow, see what’s going on with my knee and go from there.
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Fortunately, Kyrie Irving will be OK suffering only a knee contusion in Tuesday's New Years' Eve loss to the Pacers, according to Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, after he received an MRI on New Years' Day.
But Cleveland needs to take a serious precautionary look with this injury to Irving. For his knee to go out like that could mean something more chronic.
An MRI on Wednesday revealed no tear to any ligaments to his knee and leaves him as questionable for Thursday's game against the Magic. Irving said after the game that he feared the worst, and believed he might have torn his ACL. That fortunately turned out to be true. The fact that he reported hearing a pop as he went down to the court and needed so much help just to get off it.
With all the injuries that have hit major NBA players this year, seeing Irving go down would have been the last straw. Already Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant have faced major injuries that have required surgery and multiple week absenses, if not months. Those are all guards that would be All Stars if healthy.
Irving's injury has turned out to be not as bad, thankfully. Irving may sit out a while to let the contusion heal, but he will be back sooner rather than later, crossing up defenders and making opposing guards look a bit silly. He might need to lay off the Uncle Drew body though and stick to his youthful ways.
