Injury Updates: Irving, Theis, Matthews, Ingram

After leaving Sunday’s game against Indiana with knee soreness, Celtics star Kyrie Irving suggested that an extended rest period could follow, writes ESPN’s Chris Forsberg. Irving sat out last Monday’s game vs. Chicago due to knee pain, but it sounds like he’ll miss more than one game this time around.

“I think [rest] will probably be the best thing, just instead of kind of hoping it gets better over the two or three days that it usually does,” Irving said. “It’s aching a little bit more than I wanted it to now, so I’m taking the necessary time.”

Irving’s knee injury is a cause for concern, but probably not a reason to panic, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. The Celtics now trail Toronto by four games in the loss column (3.5 overall), but remain ahead of the No. 3 Pacers by a full seven games. In other words, they’re all but locked into the No. 2 spot in the East, so they can likely afford to rest Irving and some other ailing players down the stretch without fear of compromising their seeding.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

• The Celtics, already missing Irving and Jaylen Brown, will also see big man Daniel Theis – a key part of the club’s frontcourt rotation – undergo an MRI on his left knee on Monday, Blakely writes for NBC Sports Boston.
• A right knee injury may sideline Mavericks swingman Wesley Matthews for at least the next handful of games. According to Dwain Price of Mavs.com, head coach Rick Carlisle said Matthews won’t travel with the club on its upcoming four-game road trip, though Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News suggests Matthews could join the team on the trip if a Monday MRI comes back clean.
• Lakers forward Brandon Ingram, on the shelf with a left groin strain, will miss at least a couple more games before being re-evaluated on Thursday, says Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
• With Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Rodney Hood, and Cedi Osman all unavailable on Sunday, the Cavaliers fell in Los Angeles to the Lakers. After the game, LeBron James said those injuries are his biggest concern at the moment, adding that it’s hard to judge the roster when it’s so banged up. “We have pretty much five guys out of our top nine or top 10 of our rotation not playing because of injuries,” James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “It’s next man up, but sometimes you just fall short.”