The little mini-drama in the Cavaliers’ locker room after the 96-95 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday at The Q was almost as interesting as what happened at the end of the game.
As reporters crowded around Kyrie Irving’s locker to ask what happened on the last play of the game and why he didn’t stick around to hand out his game-worn jersey and shoes as the other players did on Fan Appreciation Night, a Cavs spokesman announced to the group that Irving had a bruised right heel.
“That’s what I have?” Irving said, sarcastically. “Oh, when was somebody going to tell me that?”
“I’m hurt again? Damn. How long am I going to be out? Four to six weeks?”
If the oft-injured point guard was joking, it fell flat, especially after he said that he did feel something in his heel in the first half and left the court immediately after the game to have the team’s medical staff look at it.
“They say that I have a bruised heel, but I’m fine,” he said, apparently declaring himself fit to play in the season finale on Wednesday at Charlotte.
Then, after giving all the credit to former Cleveland State star Norris Cole for stripping the ball as Irving was about to attempt a game-winning shot with 3 seconds left, Irving said for the first time that he wanted coach Byron Scott to return.
“Absolutely,” Irving said when asked if he wanted Scott back. “I do want coach Scott back.”
Meanwhile, Scott said he expected to be back even as the Cavs lost their fifth straight game to fall to 24-57.
Asked after the game if he hoped to be back, Scott said, “I am going to be back to coach them next year.”
Asked if he was told that, Scott said: “I’ve got a year left on my contract, that’s how I figure it, unless I’m told differently. But that’s the way I approach that.”
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