CLEVELAND — Tyronn Lue lay down to take his midday nap and woke up to a flurry of text messages. His team had finished its standard morning shootaround, and most of the Cavaliers' preparation for that night's game was in the rearview mirror. Solid stretches of sleep, of course, had been few and far between this season as the coach has had to take time off during March to address health concerns.
Rest and rehabilitation requirements notwithstanding, Lue's phone was littered with incoming messages regarding the Kyrie Irving news. Irving, who spent the first six seasons of his career in Cleveland—and who, by the way, hit the biggest shot in the franchise's history en route to its first NBA championship—received official word that his maiden voyage with the Boston Celtics was over because of complications from a bacterial infection following March knee surgery.