The Cleveland Cavaliers are getting healthy at the right time. The three-time defending conference champions have 11 more games until the regular season comes to a close, and because the team has clinched a spot in the postseason, those games will likely be dedicated to building up chemistry between the team’s longer-tenured members and the players that were acquired at the trade deadline.
The issue has been that a handful of players have been banged up in recent days, but as interim head coach Larry Drew announced on Friday evening, the team will welcome a trio of players back from the injured list. Drew told reporters before the team’s game against Phoenix that Rodney Hood, Larry Nance, and Tristan Thompson will all return to the rotation.
Larry Drew says that Tristan Thompson, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr. are all back on a minute restriction. Cleveland will keep its recent starting lineup of Calderon, Hill, James, Green and Love, however.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 23, 2018
Thompson has missed Cleveland’s last nine games due to an injured ankle. Hood and Nance, both of whom the team acquired in separate deals at the deadline, have been dealing with back and hamstring issues, respectively. Hood has missed the last three games and five of the last six, while Nance has been sidelined for the last four.
Cleveland isn’t at 100 percent health, though. Cedi Osman is still out with a sore hip flexor, while head coach Tyronn Lue is still away from the team while he sorts out the health issues that have impacted him throughout the season. While we don’t have an update on the former, we do have some news on the latter. According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, Drew visited Lue at his home on Thursday to set the lineup for Friday’s game.
