CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving is out for tonight's game against the Indiana Pacers at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis because of a left shoulder strain injury he suffered in a 110-99 win over the Golden State Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena Thursday night.
Following the victory, Irving remained in Cleveland to get his shoulder evaluated at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, and that medical examination included an MRI.
The Cavaliers confirmed the shoulder strain on Friday afternoon.
Irving's status will be updated again prior to Sunday's game in Houston.
"It's a little sore right now," Irving said after the game. "Obviously, it's uncomfortable. We'll see how it feels tomorrow and we'll go from there."
In his postgame media conference, Cavaliers coach David Blatt acknowledged that "it seemed like" Irving played much of the game with the injury.
Despite the shoulder pain, Irving finished with the second-most points in the game, 24, on six of 17 shooting from the field. He also collected three rebounds, handed out one assist and stole two passes while playing through the injury.
Thursday's win over the Warriors (44-11), who came into the game with the NBA's best record, was Irving's 21st straight contest with at least 10 points, and his fourth consecutive with at least 18.
"Ky has been playing high-level basketball," Blatt said. "He's another part of that group that defended their guards so well. He spent a great deal of time on Steph Curry as well. He did a great job at both ends of the court. When LeBron was rested or needed it, he picked up the reins and really did a great job running the show and making plays for us. He's been playing great basketball for us since day one here.
"Kyrie has had a fabulous season at both ends of the court, and more important, it's the team. How's the team playing? What's the team doing? Well, we're defending as a team. We're playing offense different ways from day to day, depending on our matchups or what style we're going to need to win that game. We're understanding what we need to do, and the guys are having some fun out there too, and that's great."
