The Cleveland Cavaliers were lucky enough to welcome back a majority of the players that had been out due to injuries on Friday night, but one presence the Cavs bench is still missing is Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue.
Lue took a leave of absence earlier this week due to health concerns. However, according to acting head coach Larry Drew, Lue’s current struggles have helped motivate the Cavs.
“Sometimes you have to play the hand that’s dealt to you,” Drew said according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “And certainly, it was unfortunate what happened with Coach Lue. And the way our guys have responded … You go through the course of a season, and you deal with a lot of different things. And when you do that, you don’t know whether you’re going to be able to overcome it.
“And I think for our team, we really rallied, No. 1, around Coach Lue, when the organization made the decision that he was going to step away for a few games. We rallied around him. We rallied around one another.”
The Cavs have won three straight games since Lue’s departure, and have won five of their last six games. They also clinched a playoff spot earlier this week.
Cleveland is just one day away from embarking on its final three-game road trip of the season. McMenamin reported that Lue will not coach in Sunday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. However, that does not necessarily rule him out for the rest of the Cavs’ road trip, according to McMenamin:
“Even if Lue missed the Nets game, he could travel to Miami and reunite with the team for the remainder of the trip, as he’ll be evaluated on a game-by-game basis, multiple sources close to Lue said.”
The Cavs have just 10 games left on their regular-season schedule before they prepare for what they hope is another deep playoff run. They will surely look to finish the season out strong, whether Lue is motivating them from the team’s bench or not.
