Kyrie Irving injured as Cavs routed by Bucks

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The news was all good for the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, meanwhile, got nothing but bad news.

Brandon Jennings scored 28 points and Milwaukee gained ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 121-84 rout over the Cavaliers.

The Bucks, who took control by scoring the first 16 points of the second quarter, moved within 11/2 games of New York for the final playoff spot in the East and beat the Cavaliers for the sixth straight time.

The night for the Cavaliers couldn’t have gone much worse. Not only did Cleveland match a season high with its sixth loss, rookie guard Kyrie Irving didn’t play in the fourth quarter because of a sprained right shoulder.

Irving, who scored 29 points, said he was injured in the second quarter while falling to the floor after fighting through a screen set by Milwaukee’s Ersan Ilyasova. Irving played the entire third quarter, but sat out the final 12 minutes.

“There’s a lot of pain in my shoulder right now,” he said. “I’m taking a lot of Advil and anti-inflammatories and just trying to get through it.”

Irving, the No. 1 pick in the draft, said no X-rays were taken Friday and he planned on joining the team on its flight to New York, where the Cavaliers play the Knicks on Saturday night.

“I’m really not trying to miss any more games especially winding down the season,” he said when asked if he would play tonight. “It all depends on how I feel in the morning.”