The Cleveland Cavaliers will continue their season with another game on Wednesday, taking on the Memphis Grizzlies on the road after losing to the Chicago Bulls for their season opener. LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson all played against the Bulls and Mo Williams started for Kyrie Irving, who remains out with an injury.
James and the Cavs were close at the end against the Bulls, but the team could not get the tying shot and they lost 97-95 to Derrick Rose and company. James had 25 points and 10 rebounds in the game and he had a chance to tie things up at the end, but he was rejected by Pau Gasol. The Cavs had another chance to tie, but Jimmy Butler made a solid defensive play to hold on for the win
James has been dealing with some back issues and he had an injection during the preseason and he showed some signs of being sore on Tuesday. James is expected to play on Wednesday against the Grizzlies along with Love and Thompson for the first back to back of the season. Kevin Love had 18 points and eight rebounds in the game, while Mo Williams had 19 points and seven assists while starting for the injured Kyrie Irving. Irving does not have a set return date after having knee surgery in the offseason.
The Cavaliers have a solid start to the season on the schedule, as they started off against the Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies on the road to open things up. The team is on the road for those two games and then the team opens up at home on Friday, October 30 against the Miami Heat and that game will be on ESPN. The Cavs play the Sixers, Knicks, 76ers, Pacers and Jazz next on the schedule before heading to play the Knicks, Bucks and Pistons on the road.
Kyrie Irving is coming into the season still coming back from knee surgery and he doesn't have a set timetable to return. According to the Akron Beacon-Journal, Irving likely will be back sometime in December for the Cavaliers and the team wants to be cautious after Irving needed knee surgery following an injury to his kneecap in the NBA finals. The Cavs likely will play Mo Williams and Matthew Dellavedova in place of Irving and Williams could be the starter over the first stretch of the season.
Thompson signed for over $80 million after holding out into training camp and now the Cavs have all of their major free agents back heading into the season.
