Category: Cleveland Cavaliers Blog

Shawn Marion should return fairly soon for Cavs

Here’s ESPN.com reporting some good news for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are enjoying great success these days and will get a bit deeper in the fairly near future:

Shawn Marion returned to the practice court Monday for the first time in more than two weeks after being sidelined with a left hip strain.

“Shawn is out on the court, which is a good sign,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. “He’s still not ready. He’s definitely coming along in the process well.”

The Cavs begin a four-game road trip Tuesday in Dallas, then Thursday in San Antonio. Blatt said if Marion responds well to practice Wednesday, the 36-year-old forward could play on the tail end of the trip in Orlando and Miami.

Kyrie Irving injury update: left shoulder strain

Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving experienced a left shoulder injury during last night’s game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland vs. the Golden State Warriors. He did not travel with the team to Indianapolis and received additional examination, including an MRI, this morning at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, the results of which confirmed a left shoulder strain.

Irving is now listed as Out for the game against the Pacers tonight.

His status will be updated again prior to the Cavaliers game in Houston against the Rockets Sunday afternoon.

Shawn Marion out around two weeks with hip injury

Cavaliers forward Shawn Marion returned to Cleveland from New York to have his left hip examined at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health.

The results of the exam and imaging revealed a left hip strain. He will undergo a treatment and rehab process and is expected to be Out for approximately two weeks.

The Cavs are 35-22 this season, but have been a much-improved team in 2015. Marion gets decent minutes — 20.0 mins per game — but scores just 4.9 ppg and has played a limited, supporting role this season.

LeBron James elected VP of Players Union

Here’s Yahoo Sports reporting that LeBron James has accepted much more responsibility in a league-wide role working on behalf of all players:

LeBron James was elected first vice president of the National Basketball Players Association on Friday, moving him into the union’s second-most powerful leadership position beneath president Chris Paul, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Paul had been pushing James to join him in a senior position on the NBPA’s executive committee for several months, and James made himself a candidate for Friday’s union meeting in New York, sources said. The NBPA’s player representatives voted on the new executive committee members in a meeting on Friday afternoon, sources said.

Kevin Love still finding his place on Cavs

Here’s the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporting on Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love, who is averaging 16.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game this season and is still working to fit in with the squad:

On Monday Kevin Love scored a season-low five points on 1-of-7 shooting while pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds in a 97-84 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Rather than the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 11th straight victory receiving the bulk of the attention, Love’s ongoing battle to find a level of consistency within the offense stole the spotlight.

Three days later Love quieted the noise with a game-high 24 points and nine boards to lead his team past the robust Los Angeles Clippers. But in Friday’s 103-99 loss to the Pacers, Monday’s version of Love returned as he registered five points for the second time this week to go with eight rebounds.

He was 2-of-8 from the field, 0-for-4 in the second half. His Indiana counterpart, David West, supplied 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Cavs winning streak ends with loss to Pacers

Here’s ESPN Cleveland reporting on the Cavs, whose 12-game winning streak did not extend to 13 games thanks to hard work by the Indiana Pacers:

It’s a given that all streaks eventually come to an end. Yet, certainly, the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ended at 12 on Friday night, with a 103-99 loss to an Indiana Pacers team that is 13 games under .500, could be construed as a disappointment.

The loss prevented the Cavs from tying their franchise record of 13 wins in a row (set twice in 2009-10, the last season of LeBron James’ first stint in Cleveland), and, considering they squandered a nine-point lead with eight minutes to go in the fourth, it’s fair to say they blew an opportunity to set a record Sunday at home against the struggling L.A. Lakers.

Yes, the Cavs need as many wins as they can over these final 30 or so games in the regular season to bolster their position in the Eastern Conference standings. The streak did wonders, moving Cleveland into a virtual tie with Chicago for fourth and just a half game behind the slumping Washington Wizards for third, but there is still plenty of ground to make up to catch Toronto (three games ahead at No. 2) and Atlanta (eight games ahead at No. 1 and coming off an impressive 124-116 win over Golden State on Friday).