AGGRAVATED ANKLE INJURY COULD KEEP LEBRON OUT OF CELTICS OPENER
CLEVELAND— LeBron James won’t play again this preseason, and there’s a chance he’ll miss Cleveland’s hyped opener with Boston.
James didn’t practice Wednesday, a day after he made his exhibition debut after being slowed by a sprained left ankle sustained Sept. 27. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said the four-time MVP is sore and has been ruled out of Cleveland’s final preseason game Friday night in Orlando.
As for James’ status for Tuesday night’s game against the Celtics and former Cavs AllStar guard Kyrie Irving, Lue was noncommittal.
“Not sure,” Lue said. “Got treatment all day today, so I’m not sure if we should be concerned or not. But it’s pretty sore today so we’ll just see what happens.”
At least, if Lue does rest James, the Cavs won’t face a potential fine of $100,000 that the league will impose on teams who rest healthy players.
The new rule was put in place after numerous fan complaints regarding teams resting healthy players in the regular season, most notably during the tailend of a long road schedule or the second game of a backto-back. The other new rules: •
Tuesday’s start is the NBA’s earliest since 1980. It’s a week earlier than normal, with the maximum number of preseason games cut from eight to six. •
Timeouts are reduced from 18 to 14, with each team having seven. They will be limited to two during the last three minutes of games, instead of the previous rule that permitted three timeouts in the final two minutes. •
Halftime will be 15 min- utes for all games—and the league plans to be diligent about starting the clock as soon as the first half ends. There previously was a minute or two longer for national TV games, and sometimes the clock wouldn’t start until all players had cleared the floor.
Lue said James is upset that his ankle is still an issue.
“Pretty mad, pretty pissed off,” Lue said “But I mean, it is what it is.”
James aggravated his ankle Tuesday night against Chicago as the Cavs unveiled a new starting lineup.