Kyrie Irving has missed the last two games for the Cavaliers while dealing with a knee injury.
Cleveland won both of them anyway, with Game 3 requiring an especially transcendent performance from LeBron James in order to get the job done.
The Cavaliers are holding what should be an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the series, so there seemed to be little need for Irving to get back out there if there was even a chance he wasn’t yet back to 100 percent. But it appears as though he’ll be back in the lineup for Game 4 as Cleveland attempts to close Atlanta out.
Obviously the Cavaliers can’t take anything for granted, and if Irving is in fact read to return, then he should be playing -- at least in theory.
It’s just that knee injuries are tricky things, and if Irving should be forced to miss time because of it when Cleveland is facing the Warriors in the Finals as we all expect, then this decision to let him go in Game 4 will ultimately be substantially second-guessed.