Kyrie Irving OUT for Cavaliers game with New Orleans Pelicans

Cleveland Cavaliers starting point guard Kyrie Irving will miss his second consecutive game with a hamstring injury on Monday night. The star’s injury was originally chalked up to cramps in the hamstring last week. Tonight, it’s hamstring tightness. The Cavs are being as cautious as possible with Irving and LeBron James this season, both of whom have sat games they could have played had it been a playoff environment. So far, it hasn’t hurt the Cavs in terms of Eastern Conference playoff positioning. It might put homecourt throughout the playoffs in danger.

The Cavs will start Jordan McRae in Irving’s place and he had perhaps his best game of the season on New Year’s Eve against Charlotte. The worry in a game like this is that too much pressure is put on LeBron James without a real secondary ball-handler that can be consistently counted on. The Pelicans can present problems for anyone, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Cavs play without their star guard.