LeBron James is likely to miss the rest of the pre-season after having an anti-inflammatory injection in his back earlier this week as the banged-up Cleveland Cavaliers wind up their preparations for the regular season.
The Cavaliers have two exhibition games remaining — against the Raptors in Toronto on Sunday and the Dallas Mavericks back in Cleveland on Monday — before they launch their 2015-2016 campaign against the Bulls in Chicago on Oct. 27.
“We’ll see what happens at the beginning of next week,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt told reporters after team practice on Friday. “I certainly don’t expect him to play both [pre-season] games and I don’t know if he’ll even play one. We’ll see.”
Photo: AP
Four-time most valuable player James on Tuesday received an anti-inflammatory shot to ease discomfort in his back, a precautionary move that he said had become customary for him during the pre-season.
“It was all part of the process,” said James, an 11-time NBA All-Star. “We had already known that, looking at the schedule, looking at the pre-season, we were going to do that. It’s all part of my maintenance program in the pre-season.”
James readily concedes that the Cavaliers, who were beaten by the Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the NBA Finals four months ago, will not be ready to start this season as genuine title challengers due to multiple injuries.
Kyrie Irving (knee surgery), Iman Shumpert (wrist surgery), Kevin Love (shoulder surgery), J.R. Smith (hamstring) and Matthew Dellavedova (sore ankle) are among those players who have either missed games or not played during the pre-season.
“I don’t think we will immediately be able to play at a high level because we have so many guys out,” James said. “I don’t think our chemistry is where it needs to be to start the season off. I think as we get guys back into the flow of things, guys come back off of injury and we’re able to put the time in on the practice floor, I think we’ll be a much better team.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS