“We were just having fun right before the game..we were just messing around,” Pacers F David West explained to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s Tom Reed after Cavs mascot Moondog proved to have a bit of a glass jaw in a pregame tussle. Liz Clayton The Other Moondog Randall Simon was unavailable for comment.
Moondog needed to be taken to a local hospital after suffering an eye injury during a pre-game play fight with Indiana Pacers forward David West at The Q on Wednesday night. The Cavalier canine was later released and a team spokesman said he should be fine.
The club did not update his status for Sunday’s game against Orlando. It’s unclear whether the Cavs, already without Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao among others, will need to promote a mascot from the NBA Development League.
“He jumped at me so I thought we were playing around and then the next thing I know he went down,” West told reporters after the game. “It was definitely an accident.”
It might be the most memorable Cleveland mascot mishap since the Indians’ Slider suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament when he fell off the outfield wall at Progressive Field during the 1995 American League Championship Series against Seattle.