Tristan Thompson did not play for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their last game as he injured his thumb. It was arguably the most important game of the season for the Cavaliers since they played against the Boston Celtics, the team they shared the first seed with. It seems this will be the first and also the last game that Tristan Thompson will miss this season, as it was revealed that his injury is not very serious and he can play through it.
Fortunately, the Cavaliers managed to survive without Thompson as they dealt a blowout loss to the Celtics, and they now have only four games left in the regular season.
They reclaimed the first seed and, considering they will have Tristan Thompson back, they will most likely keep it for the rest of the season.
Thompson's streak came to an end
Thompson's unfortunate injury snapped his streak of consecutive games played at 447. This was the longest active streak in the entire NBA as Tristan Thompson hadn't missed a single game since early 2012. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been very lucky that their big man stayed healthy for such a long period as he's been one of the best rebounders in the league for a few years.
This was just a minor injury, it seems, but Thompson still had to miss one game due to it. We will see if he can start another long streak of games played, and possibly become number one once again.
The big man turned 26 a month ago and he is one of the youngest players on the roster. Considering his luck with avoiding injuries, it is not impossible for him to get on another long streak as he will most likely have a few more seasons with 82 games played.
.@WindhorstESPN: Tristan Thompson does have a torn ligament in his thumb but its not fully torn. He can play with it. #Cavs
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) April 6, 2017
Cavaliers need Thompson
Even though they have a 1.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers have four playoff teams left on their schedule and they need Thompson to be ready to play.
Hopefully, this will be his last injury this season as the Cavaliers cannot afford to lose him for the remainder of the season, or in the playoffs. Thompson has done a great job stepping up in the playoffs and he is one of the key pieces of the team.
The Cavaliers have lost two other centers this season, Chris Andersen and Andrew Bogut, and losing a third one would be too costly.
They have dealt with injury problems all season long and they couldn't build team chemistry because of them. Right now, nearly everyone on the roster is healthy and available to play, so the Cavaliers will be able to experiment with more lineups and enter the playoffs healthy.
