The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to get Kyrie Irving back in the lineup this month, but the point guard is not expected to return for the Boston Celtics game on Tuesday. Irving has been working his way back from knee surgery and the Cavs are being cautious as they bring him back and that could mean sitting out a couple more games before making a return.
The Cavaliers just got back Iman Shumpert from wrist surgery and he looked good in his season debut against the Magic. The Cavs have spent a few days in Orlando as they prepared for the Celtics and now the team is in Boston after having some focused says of practice, according to Chris Haynes at Cleveland.com. The Cavaliers dealt with some struggles over the past couple weeks, but the team snapped out of that with a win against the Magic.
Kevin Love had a couple rough games and Timofey Mozgov struggled with his performance and his health, but both players have bounced back over the last week. LeBron James said that he feels the team is starting to get into form and once Irving comes back, Cleveland should be even better moving into the 2016 slate of the season. Shumpert coming back helps the rotation and the bench and the same will go for Irving once he comes back.
Matthew Dellavedova and Mo Williams have been playing the bulk of the minutes with Irving out and when he comes back it will give David Blatt some more flexibility with his rotation. According to Chris Haynes at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Irving will not play against the Celtics on Tuesday and it's unlikely that he plays on Thursday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Haynes reports that Irving potentially could return for the December 20 game against the Sixers, which would put him on track to play against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas.
Haynes reports that while there is "a chance" that Irving could play on Thursday, it's likely the team will be cautious and wait another game to bring him back. The Cavs got Iman Shumpert back and he was impressive against the Magic along with Mozgov, who had been dealing with some shoulder and knee injury issues this season. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, Mozgov looked much better against the Magic than he had looked earlier in the month, scoring 17 points and adding four rebounds in the game.
Mozgov had a hard time getting things going after coming back from his shoulder injury and now it looks like he is getting back into form. James and Kevin Love have both played well this season and most of the focus on offense has been on those two players with Irving out all this time. Irving coming back likely will shift things a bit, but since Irving missed all summer, training camp, the preseason and the season so far, the Cavs likely will take it slow before throwing the whole offense on his shoulders.
