Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

mds said:

Absolutely true. Kyrie doesn't mind passing, but you can tell when he's hellbent on scoring.

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The crowd doesn't help with this. Every time they "ooh" and "ah" after he shakes someone, he always goes for the shot, even if it's not the best option.

Jack Brickman said:

Personally, the Wariors just really don't scare me nearly as much as the Spurs. The Spurs have been there numerous times and know how to win. The Warriors have never been there and their best player isn't that much better than our second best player.

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I agree that the Spurs will definitely be tougher for us than the Dubs.

But I think you're really underrating Steph Curry here. His raw scoring and rebounding are both a little better than Kyrie's, but his playmaking is a lot better at this point, which his assist rate supports, and his 63% TS is absolutely insane. Him only playing 32.8 minutes per game is another reason why his numbers don't jump out, but he's been nothing short of fantastic this year.

Why do i keep coming in here.

Anyways, Love played Gasol, a taller, bigger pf. Love has a hard time inside against his lengthy, so Love kept him outside to keep him from clogging the lane.

In the end Love finished with 11 pts, 4 boards 2 steals and 2 assists, but Gasol finished with 12/9 and 4.

Gasol has been there best player, Love essentially neutralized him. Love really has the toughest matchup on the bulls (assuming Rose isnt fully healthy this hear) and i dont mind him sacrificing offense to win or atleast play to even that matchup.

If anyone killed us it was Brooks and Mirotic, neither were being guarded much by Love. (Miratic in a few possessions, but not much)

I really dont get the Hate for Love other than some Cleveland fans just flat out suck.

e0y2e3 said:

Love was very good defensively last night, borderline out of his mind considering he not only did his job on the bigs, but the multiple times he was switching onto Aaron Brooks (or Butler) he more than held his own. He actually blocked Brooks off a switch and forced Butler into an offensive foul at one point. He absolutely did miss a rotation and hear about it from Bron and the very next play he broke up a long pass for the steal.

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That three pointer that Mirotic got by splitting the screen, LeBron yelled out "SPLIT SCREEN" and Kevin was supposed to rotate over to it but he didn't. LeBron then yelled at him a second time. Kevin doesn't make rotation mistakes like that, his basketball IQ is too high.

It wasn't a great night defensively for him if you evaluate it all together--even respecting the hustle plays he made against guards. In fact, if you re-watch the game: every time Tristan replaced Kevin, it was because he goofed on the play or two before the substitution. Rewind it and watch closely.

Lee said:

Gasol has been there best player, Love essentially neutralized him.

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Kevin guarded Noah for most of the game. It's Mozgov that shut Gasol down and Blatt acknowledged this in the post-game interview. Every time Gasol was in, Blatt put Mozgov back in.

Jscc said:

Kevin guarded Noah for most of the game. It's Mozgov that shut Gasol down and Blatt acknowledged this in the post-game interview. Every time Gasol was in, Blatt put Mozgov back in.

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Noah had 6 points, 8 rebs and 7 dimes. I would say if that is the case, Love did an even better job.

My point holds, as its mainly that Love stays on the perimeter as he should against teams with 2 7-footers.

Wire Hanger said:

I like Kevin Love and I hope he stays in Cleveland long term. I think many people think that Love is disappointed and frustrated that he isn't being used more offensively, but in terms of his perceived value (max or close to it) he is probably fortunate. I don't think he is healthy and increased usage would probably highlight that. He's on one of the hottest teams and the winning excuses his misuse/under utilization. With more shots and higher usage he would average more points, but he probably would have some horrible games. 4/11 looks better in a win than 8/22 in a loss.

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Anyways, Love played Gasol, a taller, bigger pf. Love has a hard time inside against his lengthy, so Love kept him outside to keep him from clogging the lane.

In the end Love finished with 11 pts, 4 boards 2 steals and 2 assists, but Gasol finished with 12/9 and 4.

Gasol has been there best player, Love essentially neutralized him. Love really has the toughest matchup on the bulls (assuming Rose isnt fully healthy this hear) and i dont mind him sacrificing offense to win or atleast play to even that matchup.

If anyone killed us it was Brooks and Mirotic, neither were being guarded much by Love. (Miratic in a few possessions, but not much)

I really dont get the Hate for Love other than some Cleveland fans just flat out suck.[/QUOTE]


I think it's just that fans realize that the fate of the team kind of hinges on him. We can't realistically win a championship with him either out of the lineup or constantly having to exit games due to injury. In fact to beat a team like the Spurs or Golden State we may actually need the good Kevin Love to show up. I guess of the big 3, hes been the one who's looked the least effective and the supporting players have all looked pretty good, other than guys like Mike Miller and Shawn Marion who I guess the expectation levels just weren't set that high to begin with.

I'm happy with Love's overall performance when he plays, I'm just hoping he shows up for the big games and shows some ability to play through discomfort. Right now he seems to have a very low tolerance for pain, and he doesn't really seem as committed to winning as some of the other players on the team do. Part of me feels like he's got one foot out the door right now.

Paul said:

Right now he seems to have a very low tolerance for pain, and he doesn't really seem as committed to winning as some of the other players on the team do.

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That's ridiculous. Kevin is having his best off-the-ball season of his career. He wants to win so much that he's OK about being reduced to a spot-up shooter/spacer by his point guard.

Jscc said:

That's ridiculous. Kevin is having his best off-the-ball season of his career. He wants to win so much that he's OK about being reduced to a spot-up shooter/spacer by his point guard.

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We can all agree that we want K Love to play well. Some feel he already is, some feel that he leaves much to be desired, but this video can definitely show what's possible when the team is firing on all cylinders.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjDrWT3D2Ro&feature=youtu.be

The Hawks' traps stifled the Cavaliers. Will this adjustment solve the problem?

Atlanta beat Cleveland again thanks in part to stifling defense in the first quarter. Did Cleveland discover an adjustment that was too late to stem the tide Friday, but could be used in a playoff series?



http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/3/...-defense-video-cleveland-cavaliers-kevin-love

So to potentially beat the Hawks, we're going to need Kevin involved in the offense and hitting pops like he did in Minnesota?

Interesting revelation.. I wonder if anyone besides the entire RCF board has ever thought of that strategy?

Lee said:

Noah had 6 points, 8 rebs and 7 dimes. I would say if that is the case, Love did an even better job.

My point holds, as its mainly that Love stays on the perimeter as he should against teams with 2 7-footers.

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I am not criticizing Love specifically here, but I don't like the way they guarded Noah. Dude can pass and they put no pressure on him at the top of the key just because he can't shoot from that distance. Instead they give him 5 sec of his head on a swivel so he can dish 7 dimes. That is dumb. They let him make every pass he wants. He's not that good off the dribble.

Paul said:

I think it's just that fans realize that the fate of the team kind of hinges on him. We can't realistically win a championship with him either out of the lineup or constantly having to exit games due to injury. In fact to beat a team like the Spurs or Golden State we may actually need the good Kevin Love to show up. I guess of the big 3, hes been the one who's looked the least effective and the supporting players have all looked pretty good, other than guys like Mike Miller and Shawn Marion who I guess the expectation levels just weren't set that high to begin with.

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Yep, I agree with this completely. We NEED Love to play to a certain level to win a championship but he has been highly inconsistent in terms of his ability to do that. So it's been frustrating to watch. I don't think it's any lack of buy in from him, I see him trying really hard and he's lifted himself from a terrible defender to an almost average one. I think it's some combination of physical limitations (perhaps due to injury) and no consistency in his offensive role.

Good game. Moved well. Should have went to him more, but hey.