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Morning shootaround — June 5

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VIDEO: Top 5 plays from Game 1 of The Finals

NEWS OF THE MORNING

Irving needs MRI on knee | Love maintains desire to stay with Cavs| Report: Hawks sale will be done June 24

No. 1: Irving needs MRI on knee — Two days after saying he would do what he could to ‘will’ himself through The Finals, Kyrie Irving‘s body may have other thoughts in mind. Irving suffered what appeared to be a knee injury early in overtime of Game 1 of The Finals, hobbling off the court and needing crutches after the game. He needs an MRI today to diagnose the extent of the injury. Our Steve Aschburner, who was on the scene last night, reports that Irving’s injury casts a definite shadow over what was shaping up to be a great championship series:

Kyrie Irving limped up the ramp at Oracle Arena that leads from the court, behind one basket, up to the visitors’ dressing room. Angry, distraught, frustrated — take your pick. He peeled off his Cleveland Cavaliers jersey, balled it up in one fist and threw it to the concrete.

Then he yelled out — loudly! — a one-word expletive that captured his mood, the moment and the fear of many that this potentially excellent 2015 NBA Finals might be over even as it was getting started.

A few minutes later, Irving — the Cavaliers’ point guard who had played so effectively through four quarters, only to re-injure his already ailing left knee in overtime — came out of the shower area. He was worse off than before, holding himself up dressing stall by dressing stall as he lurched toward his. He spoke with reporters for about four minutes, then limped into the trainers’ room.

David Griffin, the Cleveland GM, had poked his head out of the locker room in search of Irving’s father, Drederick, and his agent, Jeff Wechsler. Both of them wound up in the trainers’ room too while Irving’s teammates dressed, spoke to reporters and veered as much as possible around the elephant in that other room.

Actually, there was a little more than two minutes left in OT and things already had turned miserable for the Cavaliers. Golden State scored the first four points and was on its way to a 10-2 advantage in the period when Irving tried to put a move on Warriors guard Klay Thompson.

It backfired. He appeared to slip, his left leg taking his full weight awkwardly while his right went that-a-way.

“I tried to decelerate,” Irving said. “To try to go by Klay. What I felt obviously didn’t feel right. It was a little bit different than what I had been experiencing in the Chicago series and then in practices. This was a quick pinch. I could still feel what was going on in my knee. This time I kinda knew it was, uh, a little bit different from the other times.”

“Obviously you can see in the tone of my voice I’m a little worried,” he said. “It’s just a natural reaction. … I hope it’s just a re-aggravation of what was originally going on. I mean, it’s a little disappointing and frustrating ’cause, just coming in, I felt amazing.”


VIDEO: How might Kyrie Irving’s injury affect the direction of these Finals?

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No. 2: Love maintains he wants to stay with Cavs — Cleveland has to be somewhat wondering how it would have fared in Game 1 last night had Kevin Love been healthy. That said, the Cavs have forged this NBA Finals run with Love on the sidelines for all but four playoff games (all of which were in the first round). Even though he’s not playing, talk still bubbles up from time to time about whether or not Love — who can opt out of his contract at season’s end — will stay with the Cavs or perhaps test the free-agent waters. For his part, though, Love once again reaffirmed his commitment to the Cavs last night, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com:

Kevin Love can only watch and experience these NBA Finals from the sidelines, but even at a distance, he said he has seen enough to know he wants to be back on this stage next year.

“I had so much fun watching it because I want to be in a moment like that,” Love told ESPN after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 108-100 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors. “I’d rather be out there helping those guys, and I saw a lot of places where I could help.

“I’ve never wanted to be in a game more than that one,” said Love, who had never been on a playoff team in his six prior NBA seasons.

Asked specifically whether that meant he wanted to be back in Cleveland next season, Love said, “Yes. I want to win.”

Asked why that speculation remains, Love said, “It’s just the way the world works now. People talk so much and might tell themselves a lie so much they start to believe it. From there, the narrative starts to change. I haven’t changed my narrative. I’m going to keep supporting these guys, and we’ll be talking to Cleveland after the season.”

Love could decide to opt out by June 30 to either negotiate a new deal with Cleveland, which could offer him a five-year contract, or test the market as an unrestricted free agent. As such, the most he could fetch is a four-year deal, per the terms of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

Love didn’t say Thursday night whether he planned to test free agency this summer by opting out of the final season of his contract, but he reiterated several times that his intention to return to Cleveland has been only enhanced by the experience of being on a Finals team.

 

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No. 3: Report: Sale of Hawks to be done June 24— In late April, the Atlanta Hawks finally completed the sale of their team, selling them to billionaire Antony Ressler for $850 million. That deal has to be approved by three-fourths of the NBA’s owners, a move that will be completed on June 24, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The sale of the Atlanta Hawks to a group led by billionaire Tony Ressler is scheduled to be completed on June 24, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

An agreement to purchase the Hawks and Philips Arena from the group known as the Atlanta Spirit has been in place since April 22. The sales process was expected to take 4-6 weeks to complete and will be official with the approval of the NBA Board of Governors. The approval can be done by conference call or electronically and is scheduled for the day before the NBA Draft.

Ressler, 55, will be the clear majority owner of the franchise with a purchase price of $730 million. The group also includes seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill, Clayton Dubilier & Rice partner Rick Schnall, and Spanx founder Sara Blakely and Marquis Jet co-founder Jesse Itzler, who are married. As previously reported by the AJC, current co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. will retain a small stake.

Members of the prospective ownership group, current ownership group and team employees are not allowed to speak about the sale until it is finalized per NBA rules.

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SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Here are 24 thoughts to ponder from Game 1 of the NBA Finals … What went right (and wrong) in Game 1 of the NBA FinalsThe one stat you need to know from Game 1 … Digging into 10 critical stats/trends from Game 1 … The Splash Bros. weren’t that great from deep in Game 1 Andre Iguodala showed just how valuable he is to the Warriors in Game 1 … Dirk Nowitzki says he will play for Germany in the 2015 EuroBasket tournament … Indiana Pacers star Paul George says he’s feeling more and more like his old self … NBA commissioner Adam Silver is hoping the next labor negotiations can take place without a lockout … Breathe easy, Blazers fans. LaMarcus Aldridge is not selling his house in Portland …



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