Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

Love is so freaking good. He will get you a double double on an off game.

Oh yeah, one thing I noticed during the game that I wanted to mention. Every time we came to set up our offense and Love was the trailer, he would stop at the top of the key at the three point line and was WIDE OPEN because who ever was guarding him was always sagging off 5 feet. We need to start passing him the ball right there and letting him shoot if the defender is going to give him that much room.

I agree about appreciating getting to watch Kevin Love rebound on a nightly basis. Really impressive.

Am I the only one who feels like he is looking competent on defense? I thought that would be the biggest issue, but it hasn't really been a major one so far. I guess he'll get some bigger tests coming up.

edit.

wuck said:

I agree about appreciating getting to watch Kevin Love rebound on a nightly basis. Really impressive.

Am I the only one who feels like he is looking competent on defense? I thought that would be the biggest issue, but it hasn't really been a major one so far. I guess he'll get some bigger tests coming up.

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He seems to be working hard to move into lanes and be disruptive. Could be that he just developed bad habits playing in a losing environment and that he does possess the skills to be an adequate defender. Certainly his skills as a rebounder tells you he understands positioning and defense is really about that.

LoveStan said:

Maybe on every other facet that did not include scoring.

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And that was the toughest match-up in the league for him. He was working Noah in the post, but it took a lot of time and effort and as a result Gasol stumbled over, was real tall and swatted at least three of his shots and interfered with others.

It had nothing to do with his comfort in the offense, it was just a ridiculous match-up especially with Tristan balling out and playing so much and the fact that they didn't really need to guard him because his touch around the rim is horrendous thus far.

Love has been solid defensively and has been working his tail off. Love how much of a bruiser he is. Our 3 headed hydra of rebounding has a little of everything, constant motion guy (andy) glass eater box out beast (love) and springy ball chasing jack Russel (TT)

wuck said:

I agree about appreciating getting to watch Kevin Love rebound on a nightly basis. Really impressive.

Am I the only one who feels like he is looking competent on defense? I thought that would be the biggest issue, but it hasn't really been a major one so far. I guess he'll get some bigger tests coming up.

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I guess he holds his position so well with a strong base. Chicago could not move him in the post. Doesn't contest well enough for me, but he definitely holds his own in the post. Better than expected for sure.

Kevin Love is fantastic. His floor game is incredible and he always seems to be at the right place at the right time.

I watched him 4-5 times a year on league pass but never fully realized just how well rounded his game is. He is truly a stud. One outstanding thing worth noting is that his defense has been far better than what I saw in the past. This just comes down to effort. He made 5-6 really strong and quick rotations last night that were exactly on point. I have 100% confidence he can be at least a decent defender if not above average while on a winning team.

He impacts the game in so many ways, this team is just really something to watch after suffering through the hell of the last 4 years, and Kevin Love is a big reason why.

Walter White said:

Love is so freaking good. He will get you a double double on an off game.

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The other day he messed around and got a triple double.

Today, was a good day for the Cavs.

Lol at the empty stats crap people were saying about him in Minny. His shot could be completely off and he still impacts the game in so many ways.

Considering they left Tristan and Anderson almost completely alone on the weakside, I could care less if Love shoots 36% from the field the rest of the year. Defenses have to focus so much effort keeping him off the glass and accounting for him on defense (both inside and outside) that it leaves you completely exposed on the offensive glass.

Superman said:

Lol at the empty stats crap people were saying about him in Minny. His shot could be completely off and he still impacts the game in so many ways.

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yep..it's pretty obvious he is a heck of a basketball player.. except to Futuredome who seems to disagree somehow with your statement... even though we just witnessed a game where his shot was off yet he had 16 boards 4 steals and demanded a ton of attention on the offensive end

Superman said:

Lol at the empty stats crap people were saying about him in Minny. His shot could be completely off and he still impacts the game in so many ways.

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I'm sure it has probably been covered already in this thread, but the screen he set for LeBron in the backcourt last night in OT that directly led to LeBron skating through the lane for an And-1 encapsulates just how heady his game is. He will not receive a single positive statistic for that play, but it simply doesn't happen without his basketball IQ. I'm extremely impressed with Love so far. Sure, the chemistry issues are still being worked out and his shot hasn't been falling at the rate it likely will in the not too distant future, but he's such a smart player and -- like others -- I've noticed his effort defensively.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of Love. I knew about the shooting and rebounding and outlet passing, but I didn't know his basketball IQ was this high. Once the chemistry issues work themselves out and Blatt's offense begins moving the way we're all expecting, he's going to be absolutely beasting.

wuck said:

I agree about appreciating getting to watch Kevin Love rebound on a nightly basis. Really impressive.

Am I the only one who feels like he is looking competent on defense? I thought that would be the biggest issue, but it hasn't really been a major one so far. I guess he'll get some bigger tests coming up.

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You're definitely not the only one. He's been really impressive on that end thus far, especially considering that we heard he was lazy & doesn't really care about D.

That doesn't seem to be the case at all. I said it before & I'll keep saying it, it's amazing what winning will do for players' games.

His defense is actually pretty good. I mean, he's not Noah defensively or anything, but he's smart. Seems to be a decent help defender, and I thought he did a good job guarding Gasol at times (so did Tristan and Andy).

I guess because he's not a real shot blocker, he gets the reputation of being a poor defender. And being on crappy teams, when you're losing night in and night out, you're going to stop playing defense. It's just natural, especially when his team always asked so much of him offensively.

Kevin is a pretty good low post defender, because he's so damn strong. You can't just move him out in the post, so he holds his position pretty well.

Length isn't always needed to be a good post defender, if you're strong and can move bodies outward.