The Cavs will be without half of their players against Pacers
The shorthanded Cavs will be taking on the full-strength Pacers again.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be playing the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. And for the second time in less than a week, they will be relying on their third stringers to beat Iniana’s first team.
The Cavs don’t have anything to play for. They decided to play some of their players on Friday against the New York Knicks and won in a thrilling, come-from-behind victory. If they’re going to win on Sunday, it’ll be with a complete skeleton crew of a lineup.
Cleveland will be without half of their players. Here’s a rundown of who won’t be available:
- Donovan Mitchell - ankle sprain
- Darius Garland - toe injury management
- Evan Mobley - low back soreness
- Max Strus - knee injury management
- De’Andre Hunter - rest
- Ty Jerome - knee injury management
- Isaac Okoro - rest
- Dean Wade - rest
- Sam Merrill - rest
Jarrett Allen isn’t on the injury report, but it seems likely that he’s only playing part of the game, similar to what he did in the most recent matchups against the San Antonio Spurs and the Pacers last week. This would be his 82nd game played. This is the first time he’s played in every game of a season. The closest he came was in 2018-19 with the Brooklyn Nets when he appeared in 80.
As such, the Cavs will have mostly an eight-man rotation consisting of Craig Porter Jr., Jaylon Tyson, Javonte Green, Tristan Thompson, Chuma Okeke, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Luke Travers, and Emoni Bates.
The Pacers don’t have anything to play for either. They’re locked into the four seed and a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. They currently don’t have any of their regular starters on the injury report for rest.
Indiana will be without Isaiah Jackson (Achilles). Ben Sheppard (toe) is doubtful. And their three two-way players are questionable.
At the very least, this game should give us a decent look at some of Cleveland’s two-way players who haven’t gotten many meaningful minutes this season.