David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without several key players for their matchup with the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.
Cleveland reportedly won’t have Jarrett Allen (ankle bone bruise), Ty Jerome (ankle sprain) and Darius Garland (hamstring strain) for Tuesday’s matchup. In addition to that, superstar guard Donovan Mitchell is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.
This is going to make things tough on the Cavs against a Knicks team that knocked them out of the playoffs in the first round last season.
New York was the No. 5 seed in the East, but it needed just five games to knock the No. 4-seeded Cavs out of the postseason.
Allen has yet to play so far this season due to his ankle injury, which means the team will rely on Evan Mobley to play the center position in the starting lineup. In Cleveland’s most recent loss to the Indiana Pacers the team used both Tristan Thompson and Damian Jones off the bench to play down low.
Garland was injured in the team’s season opener against the Brooklyn Nets and did not play in either of the Cavs’ last two games.
As for Mitchell, he only missed the team’s most recent loss to the Pacers. So far in two games this season, Mitchell is averaging 35.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He had 43 points in the team’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Knicks enter this game with a 1-2 record so far this season. The team lost its season opener at home to the Boston Celtics before rebounding with a win over the Atlanta Hawks.
However, the Knicks then proceeded to score just 87 points in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. That matchup was the second game of a back-to-back for New York.
The Cavs are certainly hoping that at least Mitchell will be able to play to give the team a chance of beating the Knicks.
With Garland, Allen and Mitchell out against the Pacers, Cleveland started Mobley, Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, Max Strus and Caris LeVert.
The two teams are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
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