Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love did not play in Thursday night's 113-98 loss to the Chicago Bulls after suffering an eye injury the night before.
Love, who had been listed as questionable for Thursday, suffered a corneal abrasion to his right eye in the Cavs' Wednesday night win over the visiting Miami Heat. A source earlier told ESPN that Love would play Thursday.
"We missed him a lot, for sure," LeBron James said after Thursday's loss. "He's a big part of our team. Without his ability to shoot the ball, rebound the ball, we were undersized tonight, obviously, versus their length, versus their bigs. I think James Jones came in and did a heck of a job in the minutes that he had, but we missed Kevin, for sure."
Kyrie Irving finished with 17 points but was 6-of-18 from the field. Timofey Mozgov added 13 points and 11 rebounds but sat for a stretch after picking up three fouls in the first half.
"[Love]'s a big part of our team. He's big in our offensive scheme and we really missed him tonight," Blatt said. "Then, when Mozgov got into foul trouble, it really messed us up. We had to then play even farther from what our norm is."
Love was injured while battling Mario Chalmers for a rebound in the third quarter. Cleveland went on for its 14th win in its past 15 games.
"It was blurry for about 20, 30 minutes, but I was able to regain my vision and feel fine now," Love said after the game. "So I'm just happy that we were able to sustain the lead and get the win."
Love has averaged 17 points and 10.4 rebounds this season. Tristan Thompson started in place of Love.
Information from ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin and The Associated Press was used in this report.
