The already shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers will be without the services of one of their breakout players for Wednesday’s national TV showdown against the Boston Celtics. Standout guard Sam Merrill joins
Darius Garland (toe) and Max Strus (broken foot) on the injury report. All three have been ruled out of Wednesday’s contest.
Merrill will be missing the game in Boston because of a right hip contusion. He injured his hip in the third quarter of Monday’s win against the Detroit Pistons. Afterward, head coach Kenny Atkinson said that a collision with teammate Evan Mobley caused the injury and that Merrill was “hurting.” As of now, there isn’t a timetable for when Merrill could return to the lineup.
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Merrill has played some of the best basketball of his career to start the season. He’s made the most of his opportunity to start with Garland sidelined at the beginning of the season. Through four games, Merrill has averaged 17.3 points, two rebounds, and two assists per game on .523/.514/1.000 shooting splits. This is on top of taking another step forward as a defender.
We’ll see how Atkinson handles the starting lineup with Merrill out. He turned to Jaylon Tyson to fill in for De’Andre Hunter when he missed the first couple of games of the season. I would expect Tyson to get the starting nod again with Merrill sidelined.
Atkinson could, however, turn to either Craig Porter Jr. or even rookie Tyrese Proctor if he wants additional ball-handling. And, you can’t necessarily rule out the possibility that Atkinson decides to go with a jumbo lineup and start Dean Wade at the three and shift Hunter to the two. We’ll see what direction Atkinson goes on Wednesday.
The Celtics will be missing Jayson Tatum (Achilles), and there’s an outside chance they will be without Jaylen Brown (left hamstring). Brown is listed as probable.
Wednesday’s game tips off at 7 PM.
