Boston Zzz Party: LeBron, Love, Kyrie, J.R. to sit out vs. Celtics

Pick your poison: The Masters, Indians-Tigers, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, refreshing your Twitter timeline for more Browns jersey leaks — any one of them may be a more appealing option than watching the Cavaliers take on the Celtics in Boston Sunday afternoon.

The reason: LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and J.R. Smith will all sit out the matinée dimanche at the TD Garden. A bunch of different folks have tweeted out the news, with Chris Fedor’s name being the first to cross the WFNY weekend desk.

LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith will all rest today for #Cavs and Celtics.

— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) April 12, 2015

Sitting four of the top Cavaliers serves a couple purposes. The first is rest. LeBron has suggested that he would take a game or two off before the playoffs — and he played just 26 minutes in the Cavs’ lackluster loss to the Celtics in Cleveland Friday — so his sitting out is no surprise.

Kevin Love’s back has been a stubborn problem all year long, or so it’s seemed. He has missed a handful of games this year, having played in 73 of a possible 79. He has posted his best numbers on two days’ rest, averaging 21.8 points and 10.4 rebounds while shooting 57 percent from the floor in 11 games.¹

Irving sat out Friday night’s game with a right hip injury, though that seemed to be more precautionary than anything. He was on the court warming up before the game and was scratched just 20 minutes before tip off. It is unknown when he picked up the injury or how severe it is. It doesn’t seem a major cause for concern, though Kyrie does have a checkered injury history.

Smith doesn’t have any significant injury concerns, and the 29-year-old may just be taking a well-earned day off. That, or he may have been exercising his well-documented social side Saturday night.

The other reason for all this rest is that the second-seeded Cavs would likely prefer to play the currently seventh-seeded Celtics. We would never suggest that the Cavs would do anything to increase their chances of a loss, but a Celtics victory Sunday would make a Boston-Cleveland first-round matchup more likely. The suddenly competent Brooklyn Nets are currently tied with the Celtics with a 37-42 record, with Boston holding the tiebreaker advantage by virtue of head-to-head record.

Cavaliers coach David Blatt has already said that those resting will play Monday night against Detroit.

#Cavs Blatt on status of LeBron, Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith & Kevin Love for tomorrow against Detroit: "Yes, they will play tomorrow night"

— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) April 12, 2015

Either way, Sunday’s Cavs-Celts tilt is unlikely to be an instant classic. The Cavs will be missing their top four leading scorers, with that quartet averaging over 76 points per game. Viewers could be in for heavy doses of Delly and Shump and Tristan, with Mike Miller and Shawn Marion continuing their quest to knock off the rust before the playoffs.

And Perk! There could be a lot of Perk.

If that doesn’t do it for you, the Indians and Tigers game started at 1 p.m. The Masters will be on from 2 to 7. Mad Men and Game of Thrones both start at 10.

Choose carefully.

1. Oddly, some of his worst numbers of the season have come when playing after three-plus days rest: his 14.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 36.3 percent shooting are all worse than the same numbers on back-to-backs. [↩]