CLEVELAND (AP) -- Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving will sit out his third straight game with a hyperextended right knee, preventing a marquee matchup against fellow All-Star Chris Paul.

The Cavaliers chose to rest Irving for Friday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, giving him another few days to get his knee as healthy as possible.

The second-year point guard missed games against Chicago and Toronto earlier this week, and the Cavs won both without the NBA's reigning Rookie of the Year.

Irving did not speak to media members before the game while sitting at his locker and texting on his phone.

An hour before tipoff, Cavs coach Byron Scott said it was "50-50" on Irving, but reiterated he wanted his star to rest as long as necessary.

"To be honest with you, there was still a real good chance that I wasn't going to play him anyway," Scott said. "I still want to see him in a practice. He was adamant the other day about having a chance to play and I told him we would talk about it when we got to this point."

Irving will have the weekend to get well before the Cavs play three home games next week against New York, Utah and Memphis.

Irving injured his knee last week in practice when he banged it into a teammate's knee. Despite soreness and swelling, he played in road games against Orlando and Miami but was not himself.

Cleveland is 4-9 in the 13 games Irving has missed this season because of injuries. He was sidelined for 11 games with a broken index finger, but Irving who has been slowed by injuries throughout his career, did play for several weeks with a mask to protect a broken jaw.