CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers are down 2-1 in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series with the Boston Celtics, and as they try to even things up in Game 4, they'll do also without their star guard on the court.
Donovan Mitchell has been ruled out for Monday night's game with a left calf strain. Mitchell showed up on the injury report Sunday as questionable.
On Monday morning at the Cavs' shootaround, Mitchell was absent from the courts. Just before tipoff, he was officially ruled out.
Throughout this postseason, Mitchell has been the driving force for the Cavs, first as they battled out in a seven-game series with the Orlando Magic and now in a second-round matchup with the Celtics.
In the 10 playoff games the Cavs have competed in this season, Mitchell has averaged 29.6 points, 4.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 47.6% from the field and 35.4% from three. He's averaged 38.2 minutes per game, taking control of games to help drive Cleveland to wins.
With Mitchell out, Caris LeVert has been moved into the starting lineup.
The Cavs have already had to play without center Jarrett Allen for the last six playoff games. While Allen was able to return to some shootaround action ahead of Game 3, he was unable to return. That remained the case for Game 4 as well, with Allen also ruled out.
Cleveland and Boston will tip off Game 4 inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at 7 p.m.
And while the cavs will be without a few stars on the court, the crowd is expected to have a few others in town for the game, including former Cavs champion, Akron native and NBA superstar LeBron James.
