The Cavaliers are hopeful they’ll be closer to full strength by Monday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Jarrett Allen missed the team’s game against the Lakers on Thursday with an illness. Lamar Stevens is rehabbing from a right ankle sprain and Lauri Markkanen is reconditioning after a bout with COVID-19, but there’s a belief that all three players could return early next week.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love didn’t require hospitalization but his bout with COVID-19 was a rough one, according to Fedor. “I went through it,” Love said. “The first four or five days were pretty tough. All the usual symptoms that I think people might get. Crazy muscle aches, sensitive skin, can’t smell, taste, muscle spasms, fatigue. Then just chest and head got hit pretty tough as well.” Love had 11 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes while playing for the first time this month on Wednesday.
- Pistons wings Hamidou Diallo and Josh Jackson have been fighting for minutes on the second unit. Diallo had five DNPs this month but played 14 minutes in the team’s win over Indiana while Jackson was benched. Diallo made a layup on the only shot he attempted and had two rebounds but coach Dwane Casey thought he was way better than the stat sheet indicated. “He played within himself, got the rebound, got it to the point guard and defensively, he was solid,” Casey said. “He did a great job in our traps, even forced (Indiana) to call a timeout.” Jackson will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, and Diallo could return to free agency as well if the club declines its option on his 2022/23 contract.
- Pacers coach Rick Carlisle felt his team simply didn’t play hard enough in an eight-point loss at Detroit on Wednesday, James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star relays. “This isn’t a ball movement issue. This is a hard play issue,” Carlisle said. “(Detroit) played harder. They took us out of the majority of things that we were trying to do offensively in the first half, and we’ve just got to play harder and with more force at both ends.”
Injuries are hitting the Cavs hard. It’s sad.
No kidding, i have Allen and Mobley in fantasy and they were killing it lol.
My other team i drafted cunningham, siakam and klay, managed to nab jrue and THT off waivers and that team is stating to kill it.
As always second parts are never good, Carlisle is doing really bad in IND, just not working, they gotta let him go before he wastes the whole season for them!
The game plan for IND isn’t that hard, you get the ball as much as you can, or even better all the time to Sabonis, & that is when the magic happens, but he ain’t getting enough the ball this year, the guards have it too much, which is never a good idea, & we can see how the loses are piling up, if Carlisle can’t get it right he has to go, this IND team must be in the playoff as simple as, they are too good not to!
16 games in and yeah let’s fire the team’s third coach in as many years because we think we know what we’re doing. Okay