Celtics’ Irving to miss playoffs after surgery
BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have spent most of the season adjusting on the fly. Now they will have to go through the playoffs without Kyrie Irving.
The star point guard will need surgery on his left knee and is done for season. The team on Thursday put his recovery time at four to five months.
Irving hasn’t played since March 11 and says he won’t dwell on what might have been.
“The hardest thing to do sometimes is accept the uncontrollable things life throws at you,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s simply a test of your perseverance and will, to be present, even in the wake of what’s going on.”
In the upcoming surgery, two screws will be removed. They were implanted after Irving’s patellar fracture during the 2015 NBA Finals. Irving recently developed an infection at the site of the screws, and now they must be taken out.
Following his original procedure last month, the team said the knee was structurally sound and the kneecap healed, but the wire had been putting pressure on the knee.
This is Irving’s first season in Boston after he demanded to be traded from Cleveland. And the player he was dealt for, Isaiah Thomas, is out for the year following hip surgery.
Irving believes his best basketball is ahead of him.
“This season was only a snapshot of what’s to come from me,” he said in his post. “Trust Me. The journey back to the top of Mt. Everest continues.”
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue awoke from an afternoon nap to texts about Irving. He was sorry to learn about the guard’s ordeal. After all, Irving made the biggest shot in Cleveland history, a go-ahead 3-pointer in the closing Boston’s Kyrie Irving will miss the playoffs after surgery on his left knee, according to a report. minutes of Game 7 in the 2016 Finals.
“He was a big part of what we did here, a big part of winning the championship and even though he’s on another team you still don’t want to see anyone go through that,” Lue said. “I know how competitive he is and I know how much he wants to win and to go through this and not be able to play in the postseason is tough for him, so prayers go out to him and his family. I wish him the best.”
With Irving out, the Celtics will now need someone to be the sparkplug for a team that had been hoping to make a run at the conference title following last year’s loss to Cleveland in the conference finals.
CAVALIERS 119, WIZARDS 115: LeBron James scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and brought Cleveland back from a 17-point deficit to stun Washington at home and maintain the No. 3 playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs trailed 104-87 with 7:35 left before storming back behind James, who added 14 assists, nine rebounds and made sure coach Tyronn Lue got a win in his return after missing nine games due to health reasons. Jeff Green added 21 points and Kevin Love had 16 for the Cavs, who are 10-1 since March 17, when Lue was forced to leave a game in Chicago with “piercing” chest pains. Lue, who has changed his diet and is taking sleep medication, has come back to a team that seems to be hitting its stride just in time for the playoffs. But it took another of those patented James’ comebacks to down the Wizards, who have dropped seven of nine and are in a three-way battle with Milwaukee and Miami for playoff positioning. Washington’s John Wall looked more like his speedy All-Star self in his third game back from knee surgery, scoring 28 points with 14 assists. But he had a costly turnover in the closing seconds and the Wizards couldn’t put away the Cavs down the stretch. A basket by Markieff Morris gave the Wizards a 110-100 lead with 3:16 left, but James scored six straight, fed Green for layup, and Rodney Hood made two free throws to complete a 10-0 run by the Cavs. Green’s two free throws — on a tough call against Washington — gave the Cavs a 116-115 lead, but after Walls missed a short jumper, James split a pair of three throws, giving Washington one last chance. Wall drove the lane but his twisting pass back outside was stolen by rookie Cedi Osman, who made two free throws to close it out. PACERS 126, WARRIORS 106: Bojan Bogdanovic had 28 points, Victor Oladipo scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and Indiana beat Golden State. Kevin Durant had 27 points, five rebounds and seven assists, Klay Thompson had 16 points before being shut out in the second half.