LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas, More Cavaliers React to Kevin Love's Hand Injury

Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal in his left hand after he left Tuesday's 125-114 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the first quarter.

According to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst, that injury is "likely" to sideline the All-Star between six and eight weeks.

So how are the Cavaliers feeling?

"It's a huge blow for our team, obviously," LeBron James told reporters, per Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon. "Anytime you lose an All-Star or you lose anybody, part of your crew, it's a tough blow. We're already limited in our bigs anyway. We'll be getting a lot smaller now. At the end of the day, we hope for a speedy recovery for Kev and he can get back on the floor as soon as he can. But it's a tough blow for us."

Point guard Isaiah Thomas—who recently dispelled rumors of discord with Love—echoed James' sentiment.

"I mean it hurt," he said. "He's a big part of this organization. Anybody going down is going to hurt. To know that it was something serious is, I didn't know what happened. I thought he was on his way back, but, when we came in here and they told us. Was like, man, just wanted to make sure he was alright mentally and, I mean, we just gotta keep pushing. It's gonna be tough but we gotta figure it out and there's no excuses."

Dwyane Wade kept things a bit more succinct with a tweet wishing Love well in his recovery:

As both James and Thomas outlined, losing Love is a major hit. He's currently the club's second-leading scorer (17.9 points per game) and he leads all Cavaliers players with 9.4 rebounds a night. Plus, he's drilled 40.4 percent of his three-point attempts.

As if the absence of a consistent double-double threat who can stretch the floor wasn't bad enough, Cleveland has encountered a brutal slide of late.

Following Tuesday's loss, the Cavaliers are 5-8 over the past 30 days with a net rating (-6.5) that ranks 28th overall during that stretch.

"Guys have to step up and be ready to play," head coach Tyronn Lue said, per Vardon. "Everyone has to play better. I have to coach better. Everyone has to be better. Especially when you lose a significant piece like that. I’m sure the guys will be up for the challenge. It’s going to be a tough task but we can handle it."

The Cavaliers will try to end January on a high note when they host the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday before the Houston Rockets come to town for a nationally televised tilt Saturday night.

     

Stats courtesy of NBA.com.

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