Cavs' Tyronn Lue to resume coaching duties Thursday; reveals Warriors' Steve Kerr offered great advice

Lue stepped away from the team for nine games due to health concerns, including 'piercing' chest pains

By Jack Maloney

Apr 5, 2018 at 4:14 pm ET • 1 min read

The Cleveland Cavaliers will get their head coach back on Thursday night. Tyronn Lue told reporters on Thursday that he is set to be back on the sidelines when the team takes on the Washington Wizards. He also went into more detail about the health issues he was dealing with during his absence.

"It's just the chest pains are very piercing, like, through the chest and around the rib area. So, it feels like you're having a heart attack," Lue said, via the AP. "The doctor said, 'You might die, but it won't be from your heart.' So, that was a good thing to hear that my heart's in good shape. But it's just like electricity shooting through your body, through your chest area."

Lue stepped away from the team last month due to health concerns. After he had to leave the team's game against the Chicago Bulls because of illness, Lue made the decision to take a sabbatical to address the issues, which included chest pains.

Lue also mentioned that Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who has taken portions of the last two seasons off to deal with health issues, gave him great advice.

"We get so wrapped up in the game of basketball I think we kind of forget about everything else," Lue said. "This was the first time in 20 years where I really just had a chance to focus on me and get myself right and he reminded me of that. We get so wrapped up in the game that we forget about real life and it was the best advice I got — so thank Steve for that."

In his absence, associate head coach Larry Drew took over the head-coaching responsibilities, and guided the team to an 8-1 record. Overall, the Cavs have won nine of their last 10 games, thanks largely to the return of Kevin Love and the brilliance of LeBron James.

While it's good news for the Cavaliers that they can regain some normalcy with their head coach returning, it's also a great sign for Lue on a personal level that he feels healthy enough to get back into the grind of the NBA schedule. Hopefully he has his health problems under control and can stay with the team for the remainder of the season.