Cleveland Cavaliers lose two players to injury early in the season – NBA News
The NBA season is only a little more than a week old and the Cleveland Cavaliers are already facing injury troubles, with their two main center players out with injuries. Anderson Varejao and Tyler Zeller are both out indefinitely,
and a timeline for their return is not known yet.
Rookie Tyler Zeller returned to Cleveland on Wednesday for evaluation after he sustained a concussion and broken cheek bone after being elbowed above the eye by the Los Angeles Clippers forward DeAndre Jordan in a game on Monday
night. In that very same game, Varejao bruised his right knee in the first quarter.
Varejao played through the Cavaliers game but his knee swelled up afterwards. He sat out the Cavaliers game on Wednesday because of soreness.
"Tyler was playing great. We know how Andy was playing, unbelievable. You lose not only two of your best players, you lose your size as well. Again, we just got other guys who are going to come in and try to pick up the slack for
what both those guys brought to the table,” said Cavaliers Head Coach Byron Scott before the game against the Golden State Warriors.
The loss of Varejao will be felt heavily by a Cavaliers team that is making headlines around the league with their impressive play this season. Varejao has averaged 14 points and 15 rebounds over the first four games of the season,
and is a critical component of the Cavs strategy on both ends of the floor. Zeller was initially cleared by doctors but a CT scan later showed that he had fractured his cheekbone. Before being injured, Zeller was having a great game having scored 15 points
and 7 rebounds. The team is yet to release a timeline for the return of either of the two players, and Head Coach Scott will have a difficult time trying to find a replacement for them till they return.
"Two of our best big men, Tyler and Andy go down, so that makes it obviously very tough. But what can you do? The next guy has to step up and be ready to play. We always talk about opportunities. So here it is,” said Scott.
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