While the Golden State Warriors prepare for life without Steph Curry and the Los Angeles Clippers lost their two best players on the same night, the Cavaliers will be healthy and rested when their second-round series begins Monday at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs are far too familiar with playoff injuries after losing Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving last season. By the time the Cavs entered their conference semifinal against the Chicago Bulls last season, Love was gone, Irving was hobbling and J.R. Smith was suspended the first two games. All of that has changed now.
“This point last year, it wasn’t a good feeling, leaving out of there, even though we had swept Boston,” LeBron James said. “Knowing that Kev was either pretty much done for the season or was gonna be out … it was a big blow for our team. A huge blow. It just wasn’t a good feeling in our locker room, even though we advanced. It’s the total opposite today.”
Postseason fortunes can swing wildly based solely on injuries. Curry will be re-examined in two weeks following his sprained knee, and the Clippers’ season may have ended with their Game 4 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Blake Griffin will miss the rest of the postseason with a quad injury, and All-Star point guard Chris Paul had surgery to repair a fractured bone in his right hand. Paul is out indefinitely and the Clippers’ offseason could be two games away.
The Cavs, meanwhile, can sit back and enjoy watching the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics slug it out in the first round in order to determine their next opponent. Regardless of when the Celtics and Hawks conclude, the league already announced the Cavs will open play Monday at home, giving them a full week off between series. That could be good or bad depending on rhythm and rust.
“I’ve had points in my career when we swept and it’s hurt us in the next series; we got out of rhythm,” James said. “I’ve had times we were real banged up as a team and we needed the rest and it benefited us. It all depends on that particular season. You can’t really base it on any other season. It depends on how you’re feeling and how the team is playing.”
The Cavs left Detroit feeling good about the way they’re playing and their health. Kevin Love jammed his right shoulder on a hard fall near the end of the first quarter of Game 4. Love said the shoulder bothered his shot the rest of the game, but it isn’t anything that would force him to miss time in the next series.
The Cavs took Monday and Tuesday off to rest. They will return to practice Wednesday, but won’t know who they’re playing until Thursday night at the earliest.
“We need the rest,” J.R. Smith said. “Guys have played so many minutes all the way down the stretch in the regular season, now into the playoffs, [the rest] will be good for us.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.