Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ 117-87 hammer job of a home loss to the Jazz on Tuesday.
1. What happened to the Cavs? And why is it that bad teams only seem to suffer an endless slew of injuries?
2. Sorry, I don’t think the Cavs are bad. But they are well on their way.
3. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound suspicious about the injury situation. But I am.
4. The Cavs were playing well. Real well. They looked like a playoff contender. Now Collin Sexton has a hurt ankle that isn’t quite sprained, but isn’t quite feeling right. At least, that’s how it’s been explained to me.
5. What does that even mean?
6. Oh, then it was announced Andre Drummond has an “Achilles contusion.”
7. I have no idea what that is, either. So I looked it up.
8. Here is the diagnosis from medical website VeryWell.com: “Bruising around the Achilles tendon may be seen with an ankle sprain or a stress fracture, as well as an Achilles tendon rupture, so an X-ray is needed to distinguish among these conditions.”
9. It doesn’t sound like Drummond has an ankle sprain, stress fracture or Achilles tendon rupture. It sounds like he has a bruise.
10. If the Cavs are going to hold out starters because they have a bruise … well, yeah. They’re in for an amazingly long season, and at the end of which, I can almost assure you will involve a change in regime.
11. Now, let me pause for a second. I’m not a doctor and I don’t even play one on TV. All of these injuries may be serious. I honestly suspect that is the case with most of them. But I don’t suspect it is the case with all of them.
12. And lord only knows what is going on with Kevin Porter Jr. Maybe it’s none of the fans’ business. That’s what the Cavs seem to be saying, and I honestly can live with that. It seems like a lot of fans are struggling with it — and that too I understand.
13. I’ve been around the NBA long enough to know that teams aren’t always on the up-and-up when it comes to reporting injuries. The Philadelphia 76ers were just fined for failing to be transparent. I’m not saying the Cavs are just sitting around, making up stuff and hoping to be bad. But I am exercising my right to wonder.
14. At this point, the Cavs can’t even be mad at people for second-guessing them. No team ever has had so many key guys missing so quickly. They don’t just have bad luck. They make history.
15. And isn’t interesting that when LeBron James was in Cleveland, there was rarely any of this type of dumb luck? Well, except for one season of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, but those two are injured and missing games wherever they go.
16. That said, my sense in regard to Matthew Dellavedova is his career may be over. That’s not a fact or any inside information. It’s a gut feeling. His concussion is indeed severe and I don’t know if you try to come back after missing three or four weeks (or more) with a head injury.
17. What about Darius Garland? He has a shoulder strain. Or is it a sprain? I don’t really even know anymore. I can no longer keep track of all these medical terms. Half the time it seems as if teams just use them to confuse the rest of us.
18. As for the actual game, forget it. Not worth mentioning. Cedi Osman was the Cavs’ high-scorer with 17 points. Nobody else had more than 11. Yogi Ferrell, signed Monday, had 10. Old friend Jordan Clarkson scored 21 for the Jazz, second only to Donovan Mitchell‘s 27.
19. So, things went from promising to somewhat dire real fast. The Cavs (5-7) have lost three straight. They now have a couple days off before another game Friday. Let’s hope they heal quickly, because the injury list is ridiculous, and as much as I hate to keep repeating it, has a lot of fans feeling fairly conflicted.
