INDIANAPOLIS — The Cavs are back at full strength.
Sources tell cleveland.com that Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter and Darius Garland — all of whom were unable to play in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and listed as questionable going into Friday night — will play and be in the starting lineup against the Indiana Pacers, as Cleveland looks for its first win of this best-of-seven series.
Mobley, Hunter and Garland participated in shootaround without issue early Friday morning. Then they conducted pregame warmups ahead of tipoff as normal, paving the way for all of them to play.
Garland has been inactive since April 23 — the second game of the Cavaliers’ first-round series with Miami — after re-aggravating a painful toe injury that initially started bothering him during the final few weeks of the regular season. He has missed the last four playoff games with a sprained big toe on his left foot that has made it difficult to do any basketball-related activities.
In two postseason games, Garland is averaging 24.0 points and 7.0 assists.
“You always miss an All-Star,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said of Garland. “We have not shot the ball well. He helps with that. He obviously can create an advantage on his own.”
Hunter and Mobley both suffered injuries in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s Game 1 conference semifinal loss. Mobley is dealing with a sprained left ankle while Hunter has a dislocated right thumb.
Hunter told cleveland.com that his thumb is still swollen near the base of his palm and he feels sharp pain on impact, especially when catching the ball. But the swelling has subsided enough for him to play through it without a pain-killing injection or any kind of protective wrap.
Mobley, who had trouble putting full weight on his left leg prior to Game 2, has made improvements over the last 48 hours. On Thursday, Mobley — like Hunter and Garland — took part in the team’s walkthrough before leaving for Indiana.
After being able to conduct multiple shooting sessions with limited movement on Thursday, Mobley showed no ill effects during the team’s Friday morning shootaround at Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse, testing the mobility and stability with some sprints.
Despite all of them being available, Atkinson said before tipoff that he would need to monitor each player’s workload.
“That’s going to be a feel if it happens,” Atkinson said. “Darius is the tough one. I think about almost two weeks, so if he ends up playing, it’s just going to be a lot of communication with all three of those guys. Going to be slotted for their normal minutes, but we’re going to have communication.
“Communication with them, communication with our performance staff and it can be a little bit of a feel.”
Cleveland is coming off a gut-wrenching 120-119 loss in Game 2 — a night it blew a seven-point lead in the final minute.
The Cavs trail the series 0-2.
