Kyrie Irving Says ‘I’ll Be Ready to Go’ When NBA Finals Start

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving took part in a light practice Friday, and reported that his body is responding well to the long layoff prior to start of the NBA Finals this week.

Irving missed two of the four games in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks due to knee tendinitis.

Kyrie is now just worried about rust from being off the court for so long.

Per the Akron Beacon Journal:

“I’m in a good spot right now,” Irving said. “I’m really happy, especially where I am … I’ll be ready to go.”

 

“When you’re injured, you have to do a lot more than you usually do to get prepared for a game,” Irving said. “The parts when no one is watching and you’re by yourself in the gym and you’re envisioning yourself in those particular moments and when you’re actually in them, you feel like you’re prepared. There’s nothing like it. I definitely just missed being out there with my teammates and preparing by myself as well and seeing the basketball go in and practicing, practicing, practicing until it becomes perfect and then in the game, it just becomes easy.”

 

The Cavs have tried hiding Irving defensively in the last couple of series, pulling him off Derrick Rose against the Chicago Bulls and then Jeff Teague with the Hawks. If the knee hinders him defensively, it will be much more difficult to hide him in the NBA Finals. […] If Irving struggles with reigning Most Valuable Player Steph Curry, the next likely alternative is the equally dangerous Klay Thompson — provided he is cleared to return in time for Game 1, as most people expect.