CLEVELAND (AP) 鈥� Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De鈥橝ndre Hunter were all declared out for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.
Top-seeded Cleveland was already facing adversity after dropping Game 1 to the Pacers . The Cavaliers haven't lost their first two games at home in the playoffs since 1996 against the New York Knicks in the first round.
Mobley, the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and Hunter were both injured in a 26-second span in the fourth quarter Sunday night.
Mobley sprained his left ankle when he was boxed out by Indiana鈥檚 Myles Turner and didn鈥檛 have room to land after his turnaround hook shot went in. Mobley is averaging 17 points and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs.
Hunter, averaging 23.8 minutes off the bench in the postseason, dislocated the thumb on his right shooting hand after Bennedict Mathurin blocked his running dunk attempt.
Dean Wade will start in place of Mobley, while Ty Jerome gets his first postseason start after Sam Merrill got the call the last three games that Garland was out.
Kenny Atkinson, voted the NBA's Coach of the Year on Monday night, was still agitated about the non-calls where his players suffered the injuries.
鈥淓ven if it鈥檚 not malice, we need to see our best players playing in the playoffs,鈥� he said before Tuesday's game. 鈥淭his rhetoric going around, people say, 鈥極h man, that鈥檚 playoff basketball.鈥� To me, that鈥檚 not. As a stakeholder in this, we need to figure out what is acceptable.鈥�
Garland continues to deal with a sprained left big toe. This is the fourth straight playoff game he has missed and has only played two of Cleveland's last eight games.
Jerome leads all NBA bench players in points (17.2) and assists (5.4) per game so far this postseason.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said he understood where Atkinson was coming from because he noted protecting players is part of a coach's job.
鈥淣obody wants to see players here. That disturbs the hell out of us," Carlisle said about the injuries. 鈥淲hen you turn in a play to the league, they let the other team know. I don鈥檛 want to tell you the number of plays we turned in from the Milwaukee series because that was five games.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
