Cavaliers to mourn with Hughes
Associated Press
Posted: 2 hours ago
CLEVELAND (AP) - In the midst of the NBA playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers will travel to St. Louis and attend the funeral of Justin Hughes, the 20-year-old brother of guard Larry Hughes.
The Cavaliers planned to leave following Game 4 on Monday night against the Detroit Pistons and fly to Missouri to be with Hughes, who has missed two playoff games to mourn with his family following Justin's death last week.
Justin Hughes was born with a heart defect and had a transplant in 1997.
Following the funeral on Tuesday, the Cavaliers will go to Detroit for Game 5 of their best-of-seven series scheduled for Wednesday night.
It was not known if Hughes, who missed 45 games this season with a serious finger injury, will accompany the team to Michigan.
Cleveland coach Mike Brown said Justin's passing has touched everyone in the Cavaliers' organization.
"We just want Larry to have his space and his time and we want him to be able to do whatever is necessary to help his family get through this," Brown said following Monday's morning shootaround. "We just want to let him know that we are there for him and his family in anyway that we can."
During their Game 3 win over Detroit, the Cavs wore black bands on the left shoulders of their uniforms as a memorial to Justin Hughes, who attended a few games in Cleveland this season.
LeBron James and guard Damon Jones wore sweat bands with Larry Hughes' No. 32 as well.
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